5th Column

My dear Sanath,

I thought of writing to you after hearing that you paid an electricity bill related to Namal baby’s wedding that had become the talking point among many – even as it is being whispered that yet another rate increase for electricity is on the cards soon, possibly as soon as the New Year dawns.

Why I am writing to you is because several issues about that bill appear to be quite odd, and not what it appears to be at first glance. For you though, it has served some purpose: instead of everyone talking about Namal baby, they are now talking about the chap from Puttalam who paid his bill! 

To begin with, Sanath, if someone is in arrears in paying their bills, it is not something to be proud of. Even if you are settling the outstanding payments, most would try to do it as discreetly as possible and not let the rest of the world know about it. You, however, adopted a very different approach.

For all those media people to turn up outside the payment office, you must have tipped them off about what you were about to do. So, it looks as if you not only wanted to settle that bill, you wanted to score some brownie points from Namal baby and also let the voters of Puttalam know what you did.

You say that the bill was 2.6 million rupees. You could have spent the same money paying bills in the range of 5,000 rupees for over 500 families in Puttalam who struggle to pay their electricity bills. Yet you spent it on Namal baby’s bill, knowing very well that he could afford to settle it himself.

Then there is an issue about the bill itself. When this matter came to light a few weeks ago and everyone was aghast, Namal baby jumped up in indignation saying that he never received such a bill and neither did Mahinda maama, implying that he is a law-abiding citizen who pays his dues.

Namal baby claimed there was no bill to settle. Yet, you have settled some sort of bill. Then you say the bill was issued to the defence authorities because they wanted security for Namal baby’s wedding. Are you suggesting that defence authorities should have paid Namal baby’s wedding expenses?   

You also say that, even though you paid that bill, you did not tell Namal baby that you were doing so. Are we to assume that you woke up one morning, looked around and asked yourself ‘what good deed do I do for today?’ and suddenly decided to settle this bill without even asking Namal baby?

In the same breath you say you paid that bill from your private funds. Are you such a rich man that you can go about doling millions of rupees to settle unpaid electricity bills? Then you must be very rich indeed. If you are, questions arise about how you came into all that wealth in such a short time.

You also say that you paid the bill because you just couldn’t bear to see Mahinda maama’s good name being tarnished after he ‘saved the nation’ from terrorists, and also because he gave you a hand not only to become a rising star in politics in Puttalam, but also helped you in business activities.

Firstly, the nation paid its gratitude to Mahinda maama by electing him for another five years after the war victory. All of us are now paying a price for that. Secondly, even if Mahinda maama helped you in your businesses, that is not what he is supposed to do as the boss. So, don’t talk about it!

On the other hand, when you say you paid this electricity bill because he ‘saved the nation’ from terrorists, you might be opening the floodgates for more of the same. The next thing you know, an angry Field Marshall might be at your doorstep, asking you to pay his electricity bill too!

Sanath, do you want us to believe that you suddenly decided to pay this bill, did so without asking anyone, the media turned up at the same time and Namal baby knew nothing about this? We can’t blame you: this nation that believed in snake kings from the Kelani river and a ‘peni’ to cure Covid!

Or, is the real story that there is a case to be taken up before courts in a few weeks about this unpaid bill? If that goes ahead while this bill is unpaid, Namal baby would have faced a lot of flak. He can’t pay it now either because he publicly said there was no bill to pay. So, you, the scapegoat, stepped in.

Whatever the plan, Sanath, it goes to show that, despite everything that happened at the ‘aragalaya’, and losing a President and control of the government because of it, the ‘pohottuwa’ fellows still feel that the masses are asses to fall for their tall stories. Sadly, Namal baby seems no different!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Despite doing what you did at the ‘aragalaya’ and now coming up with this gimmick, I am sure that if there was an election, the voters of Puttalam might still vote you in, the next time around. After all, that area is renowned for a certain species, aren’t they, be it their voters or their representatives?