Wimal Weerawansa

Early life and family

Weerawansa was born 7 March 1965. He is the son of Weerasangilige Podineris, a dancing teacher and professional musician, and Wadachcharige Salie. Weerawansa has one brother (Sarath Weerawansa) and three sisters (Weerasangilige Sumanawathie, Chandani Weerawansa and Nilani Weerawansa). Weerawansa was educated at Tissa Central College in Kalutara where he played for the school cricket team. Weerawansa passed eight GCE O levels and started studying GCE A level but was expelled for not attending classes.

Weerawansa is married to Ranasinghe Mudiyanselage Shirsha Udayanthi (Sashi). They have a son (Wibhuthi Wishwajith Weerawansa) and a daughter (Wimasha Wishwadari).

Career

Weerawansa joined the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during its second insurrection and wrote articles in Lakdiva and Hiru, pro-JVP periodicals. He was known by various aliases including Wimalasiri Gamlath and Wanshanatha. He was president of the Peoples' Movement for Freedom (Nidahasa Udesa Janatha Viyaparaya), propaganda secretary and politburo member of the JVP. In his early political years Weerawansa was only influenced by socialism and disliked nationalism as much as capitalism. He even accused the ultra-nationalist National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) of organising a coup d'état. However, as time went by, Weerawansa's and the JVP's attention moved away from Marxism and towards Sinhalese nationalism.

Weerawansa was one of the Sri Lanka Progressive Front (a JVP front) candidates in Colombo District at the 1994 parliamentary election but the SLPF failed to win any seats in the district. He contested the 1997 local government election as a JVP candidate and was elected to Colombo Municipal Council. He contested the 1999 provincial council election as one of the JVP's candidates in Colombo District, and as the JVP's chief minister candidate, but failed to get elected. The JVP nevertheless appointed Weerawansa to the Western Provincial Council. Weerawansa contested the 2000 parliamentary election as one of the JVP's candidates in Colombo District. He was elected and entered Parliament. He was re-elected at the 2001 parliamentary election.

Weerawansa played key roles in the JVP's opposition to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's devolution plans and the Norwegian facilitated peace talk with the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. On 20 January 2004 the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the JVP formed the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Weerawansa was one of the UPFA's candidates in Colombo District at the 2004 parliamentary election and was re-elected. In June 2005 the JVP left the UPFA government. Weerawansa was general-secretary of the Patriotic National Movement (PNM).

Weerawansa fell out with the leadership of the JVP and was suspended from the party in March 2008, accused of corruption, espionage and extra-marital affairs. In May 2008 several dissident JVP MPs led by Weerawansa formed the National Freedom Front (NFF) (Jathika Nidahas Peramuna). The NFF joined the UPFA government in December 2008. Weerawansa was re-elected at the 2010 parliamentary election. He was appointed Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities after the election. He lost his ministerial position following the January 2015 presidential election. He was re-elected at the August 2015 parliamentary election.

Controversies

Weerawansa has been involved in numerous controversies during his career. In 2006 he was accused of sexually harassing a 24-year-old female employee of the state-owned Lake House. On 8 July 2010 Weerawansa began a hunger strike outside the United Nations office in Colombo to protest against the appointment of the Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon. Despite promising to "fast-unto-death" Weerawansa's hunger strike only lasted until 10 July 2010 and was seen as a publicity stunt. In March 2012 Weerawansa called for Sri Lankans to boycott American products such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, KFC, McDonald's, Google and Gmail as a protest against the US government sponsoring a resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Following the change in government in January 2015 the police started investigating Weerawansa's wife Shashi over allegations that she faked official documents to obtain a diplomatic passport. A panel investigating the activities of the housing ministry during Weerawansa's ministry uncovered financial irregularities and rampant nepotism. Weerawansa was investigated by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) over how several of his relatives obtained government constructed houses at well below market prices. Weerawansa was arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport on 23 October 2015 due to discrepancies in his passport. After being questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department, he was produced before Negombo Magistrate's Court and released on bail. Weerawana was arrested by the Police Financial Crimes Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) on accusations of misusing government vehicles on 10 January 2017. Weerawansa's bail applications were rejected several times. While he was in custody, Weerawansa started a hunger strike against the political revenge of the government. The hunger strike was called off after eight days on requests made by Venerable Theras of the Malwathu and Asgiri chapters and fellow politicians. Weerawansa was released on bail on 7 April 2017.

Weerawansa has been accused of spreading communalism.

Weerawansa asked the public to launch a Black Flag protest to oppose the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Sri Lanka in 2017 May.