No black flags, no cry for patriot Wimal’s home
Apparently, for Wimal Weerawansa, patriotism does not begin at home. It may flower on another’s tree, it may bloom on another rose patch but definitely it will not be hoisted on his garden flag pole to announce to the world that he stands by his controversial call to damn Vesak’s mass bliss by burying the nation under a canopy of black flags raised in the name of India prime minister Modi.
This is the scene of his palatial mansion in Hokandara on Thursday afternoon. Just 11 days earlier he had urged the Lankan populace to shunt aside the Vesak flag flown in homage to Gautama the Buddha on account of his Birth, Enlightenment and Nirvana and instead to fly the black flag of hate in the name of the visiting Indian Narendra Modi on account of his two day visit to Lanka to attend the 14th United Nations International Vesak Festival as chief guest.
As this photograph taken this Thursday the 11th reveals, not a single black flag, which he asked, in his May Day rally speech, the masses to hoist during Vesak in the name of saving Lanka from becoming another Pranth of India and to paint the terrain in mournful black, is present and flying from his palatial patriotic home. And no Vesak flag either. Only a small sign placed on the second storey balcony. It reads: ‘Mema nivasata budu saranai’, may this house receive Buddha’s blessings.
As long as he has his own house blessed and protected, it seems that Wimal doesn’t care for those who naively answered his May Day call to raise black flags for Vesak and attracted the opprobrium of the neighborhood. Thankfully, it seems no one did. And as this photograph clearly shows, neither did he.