By NNN-PTI
Colombo : He loathed the peace agreement signed by Sri Lanka and India strongly enough to strike former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi with a rifle, but today the former Lankan sailor makes a living selling Hindi music.
Naval rating Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva slid into history 20 years ago today when he struck a heavy blow on Gandhi injuring his shoulder, as the Indian premier inspected a guard of honour in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
Now, much of his fire has been doused by the Bollywood tunes that he sells to customers at his shop in a busy shopping centre in the suburbs of Colombo.
"I sell very popular cassettes with Hindi songs," Rohana told the Nation newspaper here.
"I also enjoy these songs. I am a music lover." Rohana was court-martialled and sentenced to six years in prison but he was released after two years of serving his term by former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, a strong critic of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord entered into by his predecessor Junius Jayewardene on July 29, 1987.
The agreement brought Indian troops to Sri Lanka in August 1987 to quell Tamil separatism. Many Sri Lankans opposed the accord fearing it had been forced on Sri Lanka and would lead to greater Indian military involvement.