Vima haunts Bandula

by Reemus Fernando
Minister of Consumer Affairs Bandula Gunawardhana had to grin and bear it when several speakers at a function where he was present made reference to Sakara’s son Vima.
The audience was reminded of Minister Gunawadhana’s popular excuse that not even Vima would be able to bring down the high cost of living.
Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara delivered scathing remarks quoting his now famed ‘Sakka’s son Vima’ phrase at a felicitation ceremony to honour Gamini Lokuge at the BMICH on Sunday.
The packed audience at the Committee ‘B’ auditorium of the BMICH burst into laughter when Lokubandara remarked what a hue and cry Gunawardhana would have made had he remained in the opposition at this juncture when the cost of living was sky rocketing.
Gunawardhana kept a straight face but he seemed uneasy as Lokubandara’s tongue in the cheek remarks drove the dissident MPs into laughter.
Delivering the keynote address, Lokubandara stressed that politicians cannot at any cost disregard the responsibilities entrusted to them by the voters.
"We can imagine what a hue and cry you would have made were you there in the opposition at this time," said a sarcastic Lokubandara looking directly at Gunawardhana.
It seemed as if the ‘friend of Sakka’s son Vima’ was a commonly accepted term to refer to Gunawardhana as two other speakers used that term to refer to him.
In the welcome speech delivered by J. T. Abeyratne, former Divisional Education Director, Bandula Gunawardhana was referred to as the friend of Sakka’s son Vima in lighter vein.
Bellanvila Vimalarathana Thero delivering a sermon too used the term to that effect.
Recently, Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that rising price of rice couldn’t be stopped even if Sakka’s Son Vima, who is omnipotent, intervened in it.
The felicitation was held to honour Sports and Public Recreation Minister Gamini Lokuge who celebrated the 25th anniversary of his parliamentary life.