COLOMBO: The radical Sinhalese-Buddhist party, the Bodu Jana Permuna (BJP), has refused to give an election ticket to Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva, who had hit Rajiv Gandhi with his rifle butt when the then Indian Prime Minister was reviewing a Guard of Honor at Colombo on July 30, 1987 after signing the controversial India-Sri Lanka Accord.
The CEO of the BJP, Dilantha Vithanage, told Express on Sunday, that Wijemuni was not given a ticket to fight the August 17 Lankan parliamentary elections because he wanted the leadership of the party election campaign in Gampaha district when he was not even a member of the BJP or its parent organization, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS). “Wijemuni is also known to be politically inconsistent,” Vithanage added.
However, it was the BBS General Secretary, Ven.Galagoda Atthe Gnanasara Thera, who had invited Wijemuni to contest. But the monk had come under pressure from his colleagues not to entertain Wijemuni.
When Wijemuni attacked Rajiv Gandhi with a reversed Lee-Enfield rifle at the Lankan President’s Palace, he was a 22 year old rating in the Sri Lankan navy. A staunch Lankan nationalist he was enraged by the Accord which he felt was imposed on Lanka by Rajiv Gandhi. He was tried by Court Martial and jailed, but was pardoned and released by President R.Premadasa after two and a half years. A battery of the topmost lawyers appeared for him free of charge, as he was seen as a national hero.
On release, Wijemuni secured a degree from Sri Jayawardenapura University and started running a shop in Nugegoda selling DVDs of Hindi films and Hindu devotionals and took to reading horoscopes for a fee. He has written a book in Sinhalese, justifying his attack against Rajiv Gandhi. In 2000, he unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary elections as a candidate of the Sinhala Urumaya Party.