United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who completed his primary education at Royal College and obtained a law degree from the University of Colombo, was appointed as the Chief Organiser of the United National Party in the Kelaniya Constituency in the mid-1970s.
He was later appointed as the party’s Chief Organiser of the Biyagama Constituency. He was elected to Parliament in 1977 and became the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the age of 28. Then he held the position of Minister of Youth Affairs and Defence as the youngest Minister in the President J. R. Jayewardene Government’s Cabinet.
After the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who became the Prime Minister for the first time on May 7, 1993, has held the position of Prime Minister six times since then. On July 13, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notice appointing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as Acting President as he is away from the island.
When protesters took to the streets on July 9 calling both the President and the Prime Minister to resign creating a tense situation, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he will resign from the post of Prime Minister to facilitate an all-party Government thereby ensuring the continuity of the Government and the safety of all citizens. He said however he will remain as Prime Minister until that Government is appointed. However, just hours after that announcement several persons believed to be protestors breached the security barriers in front of Wickremesinghe’s private residence located on 5th lane in Kollupitiya and forcefully entered the house. In the melee, a group had set fire to the Prime Minister’s residence.
“On the evening of July 9, I was informed by the Police of a possibility that protesters engaged in the struggle were approaching my house and the situation may become violent. I was asked to leave my residence. On this advice, my wife and I left the house that evening. This is the only house I owned. The only house I owned both in Sri Lanka and abroad. What has been destroyed, my library was my greatest treasure. There were nearly 2500 books in it. I cannot hold on to them forever so Maithree and I decided to donate them to Royal College, the University of Peradeniya and the University of Colombo.
It included books from the Dutch period in Sri Lanka as well as books by Paul E. Peiris. My only regret is the loss of these historical books that were to be bestowed on the future generation of this country.
My residence also held a collection of paintings that were around 200 years old. Only one painting remains. Everything has been destroyed in the fire. In 1932 Adolph Hitler began his journey by setting fire to books. This is a similar incident. Certain media outlets reported a distorted version of the statement issued by me following the party leaders’ meeting held via zoom that evening.”
Many people are now of the opinion that along with the Prime Minister’s residence, the non-violence aspect of the citizen’s struggle has also now been destroyed. According to Wickremesinghe even if one can earn money, what he had accumulated over the years cannot now be restored.
However, this isn’t the first time Wickremesinghe faced a similar situation. During the time his father was engaged in politics, his ancestral home had also been attacked in one instance.
The land on which the destroyed house stood had been gifted to Nalini Wickremesinghe, the mother of Ranil Wickremesinghe by Nalini’s father Don Richard Wijewardene, more popularly known as D.R Wijewardene. The Wijewardene clan is said to have descended from Tudugala Maddumarala, a war general of the King of Sitawaka.
The name Wijewardene had been bestowed on him for his bravery and heroism in battle. The later descendants became landowners in Colombo. The one-acre land on 5th lane was purchased by Tudugala Dep Wijewardene. Wewage Sofia Dep Weerasinghe was D.R. Wijewardene’s mother. She had purchased land in Sedawatta and built a mansion on it. Lake House established by D.R Wijewardene came to be known as such due to the Wewage surname of his mother he had used in naming the establishment.
On October 19, 1944 D.R Wijewardene gifted his daughter Nalini Wickremesinghe 88 perches from the land on 5th lane that had been passed down the generations. At the time the estimated value of the land was Rs. 60 000 per perch.
D.R. Wijewardene who resided in the Sedawatta mansion later purchased the Sri Ramya residence and the adjoining beach in Kollupitiya thereby becoming the only Sri Lankan at the time to own part of the country’s seashore.
The Sri Ramya residence was later sold to the American Centre and Wijewardene then moved to a residence on Braybrooke Place in Colombo 2.
When distributing his assets among his family, it was the land on the 5th lane that he bestowed on his eldest daughter Nalini. The house was also built by Wijewardene as a gift to her.
Nalini wed Esmond Wickremesinghe. It is said the Wickremesinghe family can also trace their lineage to a heroic Minister called Wickremesinghe who lived during the era of King Sitawaka Rajasinghe.
C.L Wickremesinghe was the first to enter politics becoming the first Governor of Sri Lanka and joined hands with Prime Minister D.S Senanayake to commence the farming colony movement. Esmond was the son of C.L Wickremesinghe.
After their marriage, Esmond and Nalini moved into a residence located on Kassapa road in Thimbirigasyaya. The couple receiving the land on 5th land from Nalini’s father, contracted the Edward Reid and Begg construction company to build a house on it. At the time Geoffrey Bawa had also begun to work as an apprentice with the firm.
Their children Shan and Ranil Wickremesinghe were born while the couple lived at the Kassapa Road residence while Niraj, Kshanika and Channa Wickremesinghe were born after they moved into the new house on 5th lane.
On October 22, 1972 the couple handed over all their properties to their children. Due to his reluctance to live in Colombo, Shan was given a plot of land in Ratmalana while Niraj and Ranil were given 20 perches each.
This was around the same time Lake House belonging to the Wijewardene family was taken over by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Government. Even though many believed J.R. Jayawardene would take steps to hand over the business back to the family once he came to power, it never happened. However, Nalini and Esmond fought for what was rightfully theirs. As a result, the Government agreed to pay Nalini Wickremesinghe an amount of compensation assessed by the Government and an amount from the share assigned to the trustee.
The plot of land gifted to her son Ranil did not consist of a house. During the 70s when food was scarce on the island sweet potatoes, manioc and vegetables were grown on this plot while even a pond was created to get water for cultivation purposes.
In the early 1980’s Nalini began constructing a house on the land utilising part of the compensation paid by the Government for the Lake House takeover. Ranjith Samarasinghe, an architect of Lawrence Tudawe Company, was entrusted with its construction work. At the end of the construction, Ranil Wickremesinghe moved into that house with the antique furniture inherited from his parents.
Therefore, the house held a large amount of antique furniture. Among these included a piano purchased by Helena Wijewardene in the 1900s and a 200-year-old bed he had inherited from the Tudugala Wijewardene family. It also housed two ebony chairs.
According to Wickremesinghe one of the chairs had historical value as many State leaders such as Jayawardene, D.B. Jayathilaka, D.S Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, Sir John Kothalawala, J.R. Jayawardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunga have sat on it on many occasions. These chairs had been a gift to Wickremesinghe from his grandfather D.R. Wijewardene.
Many people have expressed their sadness at the loss of the valuable books in the fire.
“The collection consisted of books on law and society. It also had many old books and even included signatures of their authors. There were three books by President Roosevelt along with his signature. It even had a book signed by Henry Kissinger. The library also had around 200 CDs that consisted of valuable information from the year 1902. There were around 100 CDs that consisted of old music starting from the year 1912 including Sinhala, Hindi and Western music. Also among them were CDs containing photographs of mine taken for the election campaign since I entered politics in 1977.”
“On the ground floor, there were around 15 statues of the Buddha while upstairs there were another 20. The Tripitaka and the Dhammapada were also part of this collection. I also had a large number of important documents including those I had brought home to review. All of it has now been destroyed including a protected painting depicting the five disciples of the Buddha.
Only a few items of this home were new. The majority of it had been passed down to me from my family. These were items I had intended to donate to the museum”, Wickremesinghe said.
After losing the 2020 General Election, Ranil Wickremesinghe started writing a book titled Political Behaviour in Southeast Asia, the manuscript of which was also destroyed in the fire. Not earning anything from politics Wickremesinghe had not even accepted his MP’s salary for many years and it was his wish that the house in which he lived should be donated to the Royal College after his demise.
His pet Bruno was saved from the fire by the security forces who had sprung into action to provide veterinary treatment and give the animal saline and oxygen at the scene. The veterinarian had been of the opinion that the dog would have also lost his life if any further delay had happened in saving him.
Three suspects who were arrested in connection to the incident have now been remanded until July 20 and police investigations are ongoing. Following the incident, Wickremesinghe also visited the house of his brother Channa Wickremesinghe. Channa’s house had also been attacked and ravaged by the protesters. Valuables had been stolen while electronic items and furniture had been destroyed beyond repair. Seated on a step at his brother’s house Wickremesinghe said.
“Why should we feel sad about what was destroyed when the majority today are crying in hunger?” To friends who were deeply shocked and saddened by the destruction of their home, Wickremesinghe’s wife Maithree had expressed similar thoughts. “We have made up our minds. You must remain strong as well.”
This article is an English translation of Sureka Nilmini