Although President Ranil Wickremesinghe was due to leave for London for the coronation of King Charles III of Great Britain, he did not forget to participate in the Vesak celebrations in the country until Wednesday night.
Although he was supposed to leave Colombo at 3.00 am on Thursday, he watched the Bakthi Gee concert at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday night and took part in the opening of the Gangaramaya Vesak zone.
President Wickremesinghe is going for the coronation of King Charles III this time renewing the history of this country. That is, as the son of a couple who attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the mother of King Charles.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s parents Esmond and Nalini Wickremesinghe participated in the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth in February 1952 along with Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake.
This time the President’s participation in the coronation of King Charles, will add a new chapter to the British and Sri Lankan history book.
King Charles invited President Wickremesinghe to attend his coronation when he attended Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
Busy day
Wednesday was a very busy day for the President because there was a holiday at the beginning of the week.
 Sajith Premadasa |
Although the President did not participate in the United National Party (UNP) May Day rally, he discussed with the Party General Secretary and activists and with the main organisers of the rally, Ministers Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara to make it a success. Party activists met the President at his official residence on Sunday for that purpose.
As the Leader of the party, the President instructed the group to start the rally on time and manage the time to share topics and conduct speeches. Following the instructions of the President to the letter, the May Day rally was held at Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.
Shortly before the start of the May rally, UNP National Organiser Sagala Ratnayaka received a phone call from the President, wanting to know if the ceremony will be telecast live and the channels in which it will be telecast. Soon Ratnayaka learned that President Wickremesinghe was watching the rally live and said it in his speech by making the party members excited.
After the May Day Rally, Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene, National Organiser Ratnayaka, Chairman Wajira Abeywardena met the General Secretary and congratulated him saying that a very successful May Day Rally was held.
“I wish to thank Manusha and Harin. They made this so beautifully together,” the General Secretary said, pointing to both of them.
“Sir, there are no drunk people. No yelling. People came in order and sat down. You all made the speeches short and meaningful. I think this is the best of all May rallies held today.” Everyone nodded when Kotte Organiser Dinesh Vidanapathirana said this.
National Organiser Ratnayaka said, “This is called system change. The youth asked for this change. A young man like Dinesh understood that.”
President Wickremesinghe congratulated the organising committee for the success of the May Day Rally, encouraging everyone when a group of activists of the party came to the official residence to meet the President.
“Due to last year’s ‘Aragalaya’, May Day could not be held properly. Those who spoke very proudly about Cuba back then do not say a word about Cuba not being able to hold the May Day without fuel,” Wajira Abeywardena said with a smile.
“The members of the Opposition organised a May Day and came to Colombo and scolded the President,” Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene said, looking at the President.
The President said, “It doesn’t matter. Blame me but they were able to come to Colombo because I brought the fuel,” which made everyone laugh.
“The President not only brought the fuel but also reduced the price of fuel,” said Sagala chipping in. The group left late at night.
On Tuesday morning, President Wickremesinghe came to the Secretariat to attend to some work that had been planned earlier. Since May Day fell on Monday, the Cabinet meeting was held on Tuesday. The President also signed the letters appointing new members to the National Procurement Commission and the National Finance Commission that day. The Cabinet meeting was held that evening and several decisions related to the economy were taken.
On Tuesday night, a dinner was prepared for the cricket players of Royal College and S. Thomas’ College at President’s House in Fort.
The President came to the venue after the Cabinet meeting to join the players for dinner. At the request of the players, the President took them to see the President’s House.
The players were surprised when they heard the President’s analysis of its antiquity, appreciating his knowledge of history. The President stopped at one place on the upper floor and said, “This is the place where the British danced. This is the dancing floor.” Saying so, he gave a historical account. After finishing it, the President said, “But there is a dancing floor down there too. We are not involved in that.” When he said with a smile, the players looked at each other’s faces to ask what it meant. At that time, an officer who was near the players softly told them, “He means the underground part that was built during the time of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.”
Then the President said, “This is the ballroom. There’s a disco down there.” The players who understood what he said couldn’t stop laughing.
As soon as President Wickremesinghe came to the office on Wednesday morning, he also joined the ceremony of awarding scholarships for the students who passed the GCE Advanced Level examination in the midst of his busy schedule. It is also significant that members of the President’s Fund met that afternoon after four years. A group of Ministers also came to meet the President on that day and Minister Prasanna Ranatunga who was there started to talk about the May Day rallies.
“On May Day, the Opposition did not have big slogans. But it is heard that SJB Parliamentarian Vadivel Suresh held a meeting with MP Chaminda Wijesiri and blamed the Opposition Leader,” Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said.
“But he said that he met the President in the morning. Later in the evening, he met the Leader of the Opposition again,” MP Madura Vithanage said, looking at the President.
 Dinesh Vidanapathirana |
“They said they need to talk about some issues of the plantation people. I talked about that,” the President said as if nothing happened.
“The people celebrate not only May Day but also Vesak freely,” said MP Wajira Abeywardena joining the conversation.
“Yes, there are many Vesak zones, dansals, Vesak pandals in Colombo,” the President ended his speech saying that.
On the instructions of the President, Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka met the Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay at the Indian High Commission in Colombo. A number of projects to be set up between the two countries were discussed.
Ratnayaka left for Jaffna last week to investigate the land problem of the people there. There, he looked into the progress of the lands that were freed from the Security Forces and handed over to the people.
One hundred and ten acres of land owned by the people that were used by the Security Forces have now been released to the people and he also looked into how they are developing it. Ratnayaka also made a promise to the people there that more land near the Palali camp will be released for agriculture.
President Wickremesinghe left for London on Thursday morning and the President’s Private Secretary Sandra Perera and Director of International Affairs Dinouk Colombage accompanied him. First Lady Prof. Maithri Wickremesinghe had left for England on a private visit and she will join the President for the coronation ceremony. She went on the trip at her own expense.
May Day
The most notable event of last week was the May Day celebrations all over the country. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), in particular, was working with great enthusiasm for the second May Day celebration of its party.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa appointed a committee for May Day and regularly met them to make plans on how to conduct the May rally and parade.
The SJB had first focused on holding its rally at the Galle Face Green. General Secretary of the party Ranjith Madduma Bandara discussed this with the May Day Committee. “If you can get the Galle Face, it is very valuable. With the news coming from all over the country, a large number of our party members are eager to come to the rally,” Gayantha Karunathilaka said.
“Yes, the other thing is that we have always been with the ‘Aragalaya’. When some parties of the Opposition avoided the ‘Aragalaya’, we continued with it. That way, if we get the Galle Face, it will be very valuable,” Nalin Bandara said.
However, the SJB was not allowed to book the Galle Face. Finally, they had to choose the A.E. Gunasinghe grounds. However, it was also historically important for the A.E. Gunasinghe grounds to be used by the SJB’s May Day Rally. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa recalled that. “It is true that this ground is not enough for us. But this ground was built in the name of A.E. Gunasinghe. He was the one who held the first May rally in Sri Lanka. Not only that, President Ranasinghe Premadasa also started politics with A. E. Gunasinghe.”
Mujibur Rahuman said, “Not only that, it was Leader Ranasinghe Premadasa who created Gunasinghapura. From that point of view, this is historic.”
The meeting was supposed to be held at 2.00 pm. However, the meeting was delayed due to the presence of tens of thousands of party members in the procession which started near the P.D. Sirisena grounds. A huge number of party members from all over the country joined the parade.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa joined the rally near the Elphinstone Theatre. As the procession was moving forward, the Opposition leader quickly came forward from the crowd and climbed onto the attic at a slightly higher place adjacent to the stadium to observe the procession. He was able to get an understanding of the people who participated in the rally. It was from the attic that Premadasa was also able to greet the people coming from each electorate. When half of the people who participated in the rally entered the stadium, the entire ground was full.
Open stage
Therefore, a huge number of people had to watch the rally from outside. The organisers had arranged two large wide screens. The main stage in the stadium was a huge open stage without a roof. “We guessed that it would rain. If that happened, the leaders would not get wet and the people would be wet. That’s why we created an open platform,” Head of Operations Nalin Bandara said.
However, there was very good weather and Sajith Premadasa addressed the May Day in front of tens of thousands of people outside the stadium.
“We have created the only platform where everyone can come together with an open mind, regardless of race, religion, caste,” Sajith said. At the end of the rally, there was another event. That is, the organisers of the May Day rally of the SJB also cleaned the grounds.
A meeting with TV media channel heads and newspaper editors was held at the Mandarin Hotel, Colombo under the leadership of party leaders and representatives including Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.
Many opposition groups were encouraged to work together as a massive force against the anti-democratic activities implemented by the Government and as a result this meeting was held.
In the face of the current political, economic and social issues, all the political parties of the Opposition came together and formed a common program against the arbitrary program implemented by the Government.
Many groups of the Opposition led by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya came together in the Parliament recently under the leadership of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.
Dinner party
Several politicians including Patali Champika Ranawaka, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne attended the dinner held last week at the house of Manjula Ranawaka, a cousin of former UNP Deputy Minister Sarath Ranawaka, in Bulathsinhala, Kobawaka. Ministers Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara were also invited to the party, but due to the organisation of the UNP May Day rally at the Sugathadasa Stadium, they were unable to attend.
Businessmen, medical professionals, lawyers, heads of media organisations, journalists, heads of thePpresidential staff, and owners of pharmaceutical companies also attended the party of Manjula Ranawaka, who has always appeared with the affairs of the United National Party.
When invited, many people asked what the purpose of the party was, but Manjula did not say anything about it. Some people were told that it was a New Year party. Just as the party was about to start, MP Patali Champika Ranawaka arrived and shortly after a newspaper editor arrived.
“Mahinda Chinthana has also come,” said Patali with a smile. “I was only involved in Mahinda Chinthana. You wrote Mahinda Chinthanna, worked for it and left,” he said with a smile.
Patali Champika Ranawaka went among the guests at all the tables and chatted amicably. In the meantime, Neth FM News Chief Hemantha Kahavalage taught Patali a political lesson that he will not forget for a long time. Champika listened to them with a smile and did not say anything.
MP Rajitha Senaratne was present with his wife Sujatha. Former MP Chatura Senaratne was invited to the party but he did not attend. The doctors and journalists who surrounded Rajitha asked when he would join the Government.
“There is a big collapse in the health sector. Let’s fix this. Only someone like you can do it,” the people of the health sector said.
Many were eager to pose for selfies with Rajitha and Champika.
New political party
 Patali Champika Ranawaka
|
Champika revealed a political secret. “I will launch a new political party on May 21. I say it publicly now,” he said.
Champika went to a separate place and had a long discussion with the Presidential Media Director Shanuka Karunaratne.
Presidential Adviser Ashu Marasinghe and the President’s office Trade Union Director General Saman Ratnapriya had discussions with journalists till midnight.
“We all support the President’s program. If the President did not accept this post at this time, we will not be throwing parties, but will be giving alms at the places where our people died,” a journalist told Ashu Marasinghe.
“The President has the support of journalists. Let’s all come together and make a plan,” the journalists told Ashu. “That’s a good idea. Let’s gather the journalists and make a program,” Ashu suggested to a Minister’s Press Secretary who was also present.
Minister Manusha Nanayakkara’s wife Shanika’s birthday was on May 1. For many years the birthday celebration was missed because Manusha participated in the organisation of May Day rallies. This time on May 1, Manusha was more busy than usual because he is also the Labor Minister.
During the May Day celebrations, Manusha had organised several religious ceremonies for his wife’s birthday at the Gangaramaya temple. He arranged to contribute to the community kitchen program, which is being implemented with the afternoon alms giving at the Gangaramaya temple as the centre.
Manusha who organised all this, participated in the UNP May Day Rally at the Sugathadasa Stadium because most of the work was on his shoulders. As soon as the May Day celebrations were over, Manusha went to the Gangaramaya temple where the religious ceremonies had already started.
Religious ceremonies were held under the patronage of Gangaramaya temple administrator Dr. Kirinde Assaji thera and Manusha also participated in the program of distributing cooked food to the community kitchen. After that, dry rations were also distributed and Manusha and Shanika joined a bird release program together.