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Former Minister Champika Ranawaka evoked the oft-quoted words of a leading figure in the Indian independence movement, Sarojini Naidu, to illustrate that the maintenance of public figures who outwardly appear simple may cost the taxpayer more than those who are actually outwardly extravagant.

Ms. Naidu had famously commented that keeping Mahatma Gandhi in poverty was an expensive affair, stating that while Gandhi travelled by third class in trains, they could not allow members of the public to travel with him, and they had to keep the entire carriage empty, and thus the Indian Government had to pay to maintain his poverty.

“Today we are spending more on maintaining the simple lifestyle of President Anura Dissanayake than on corrupt Mahinda Rajapaksa or Ranil Wickremesinghe,” Mr. Ranwaka quipped.

He cited a recent example when the President visited Kandy for a discussion on the exposition of the sacred Tooth Relic due in April.

“In front of the television cameras, only his cab and two jeeps are shown, but I was on the way and saw more than 10,000 policemen on duty. While he had only two vehicles in his convoy, hundreds of jeeps were deployed along the roads. I challenge the government to table the details of how many policemen were deployed for duty on the day,” Mr. Ranawaka said.

He added the Government was covering up the costs by adding the additional expenses to the Police Department while making the public know only the cost for the diesel of his vehicle.

Modi arriving here on historic red-letter day

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced in Parliament on Friday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be arriving in the country on April 5 on an official visit.

The choice of the date of his arrival is a poignant one for the country, as it coincides with the day that the JVP, led by Rohana Wijeweera, launched its first insurrection by simultaneously attacking 74 police stations across the country in 1971.

In his book Insurgency ’71, Justice A.C. Alles writes that “the 5th of April is a red letter day” in the history of Sri Lanka. He notes that it was on April 5, 1942, that the Japanese bombed Colombo and Trincomalee; it was on April 5, 1956, that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, led by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, swept the polls, and on April 5, 1971, the ‘most bloody revolution of recent times occurred in our country to shock our people rudely from their torpor and complacency and seriously jeopardised the foundations of democracy in Sri Lanka.”

Similarly, April 5, 2025, will be a significant day in Sri Lanka’s history as a JVP-led Government welcomes an Indian Prime Minister, a far cry from its 1988-90 insurrection era, when it viewed India as one of the group’s – and the country’s – biggest nemesis.

Vedda chief makes a beeline to CID

Angered by how the Vedda tribe was depicted by the comedy duo Blok and Dino, Vedda Chief Uruwarige Wannila Aththo lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday, saying the indigenous community was depicted in an insulting and derogatory manner.

The Vedda chief may have taken a cue from government ministers and MPs, many of whom have been making a regular beeline to the CID over different issues.

A phone user trying out the newly launched election monitoring mobile phone app

EC launches app to keep polls clean

The Election Commission launched the Election Dispute Resolution (EDR) mobile
app yesterday.

The EC said the app is a simple and efficient way to report election issues instantly and make the voice of the public heard. The app will empower citizens, allowing for transparent elections and keeping Sri Lanka’s elections clean and fair.

Politico’s pic in pyramid pickle

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on Friday named two more companies to warn the public of their involvement in pyramid schemes prohibited under the Banking Act.

The two companies, Pro Care (Pvt) Ltd and Shade of Procare (Pvt) Ltd, became the latest additions to a growing list of companies that the CBSL has determined were engaged in pyramid schemes. Officials of some other companies on the CBSL’s list have been arrested by police on charges of multimillion-rupee frauds. Some have been released on bail, while others are still in remand custody.

Photographs have also now emerged on social media of officials from the now-banned Shade of Procare (Pvt) Ltd meeting with a former MP from a leading opposition party in January to brief him about what they claimed was a training programme for online job opportunities.

The former MP had shared photographs of the meeting on his official Facebook page. Some users who commented below the post, even in January, had warned the politico that he had been duped into meeting a group of persons conducting a pyramid scheme and that the photographs were being used by the company to recruit new victims into their scam. The former MP had responded to one comment thanking the user for clarifying the matter to him. However, the entire post is still up on the social media page.

Having to meet various people is a fact of life for people’s representatives. Some of the people they meet try to use such meetings to advance nefarious purposes. While politicians cannot shy away from meeting people, it is always good to exercise due diligence and maybe do a bit of research beforehand about who they are meeting. Failure to do so may well bring public embarrassment later on.

Kennedy files confirm CIA office in Colombo

Earlier this week, the Trump administration released more than 2,000 files related to the assassination of former United States President John F. Kennedy — a case that has fuelled conspiracy theories for more than 60 years.

The documents revealed covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations during the Cold War, including the existence of secret agency bases in South Asia—even one in Colombo.

According to the files, the CIA operated in New Delhi and Calcutta (now Kolkata) in neighbouring India and in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, as well.

Relatives’ govt. Then and now

House Leader and Minister Bimal Rathnayake has become the strongest critic of opposition MPs.

On Friday, as the budget debate drew to a close, Mr. Rathnayake used much of the time allocated to him to lambaste the past sins of those who held office before them. “There were no governments before this. There were only relatives and cronies who were running the government,” he said, adding that there was no nepotism, favouritism, or cronyism in this government.

Quite strange given that both he and his wife, Samanmalee Gunasinghe, are MPs representing the same party. She was elected while he was appointed from the National List. Despite the denials, one wonders if this looks a lot like nepotism.

The talk behind the police spokesman’s resignation

Of late, the Police Department has been in the news—obviously for not-so-good reasons. One, the police teams were trying to track down their one-time boss—Inspector General Police (IGP)—and the other was its failure to ensure law and order amidst daily shooting incidents in the South.

Then came the news that police spokesman SSP Buddhika Manatunga wanted to step down from his role and sought a transfer, citing “personal reasons”.

The talk in police circles these days is that his office came under censure from the top brass for not doing enough over matters related to the absconding IGP. SSP Manathunga wrote to the National Police Commission seeking an immediate transfer. Later, SSP Manathunga told reporters that he would stay on for a while longer till a replacement was named.

 SLTB hotlines to keep errant bus drivers on track

Errant bus drivers are a major hazard to passengers, road users and other motorists.

To address the issue, the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has launched a 24/7 call centre with hotlines 1958 and 0117555555 and a WhatsApp number of 0103001958 for  people to lodge complaints and forward video clips and photographs showing driver misconduct.

The officials believe the new move will result in more public complaints and fewer violations of traffic laws by bus drivers. Or will it?

State TV dead wrong on funeral coverage

For a government that came to power condemning excesses by previous governments, a lot of what happened before continues.

This includes prime-time news coverage for the funeral of the mother of Rupavahini Corporation chairman, Gihan De Silva. It was aired for more than a minute during the news bulletin this week. With soulful music playing in the background, visuals of the scenes from the funeral at a private parlour to the scenes of the journey to the cemetery as well as the last rites were shown as part of the news.

With no disrespect to the dead and the grieving family, serious questions arise as to what news value there is for the people in a funeral of a private person. If the only reason is that he holds the post of chairman of the Rupavahini Corporation, then we have to ask the government if this is the so-called ‘system change’ that it was advocating.