They didn’t know him

A special ceremony was held at an official mansion to mark the recent annual Hindu cultural festival, Deepavali. 

Diyawanna members from the North and the East were among the special invitees to the event.
The distinguished guests began streaming into the mansion at the scheduled time on the day of the event. 

Soon after the arrival of Number One and Number Two in yahapalanaya for the function, an elderly gentleman in national dress appeared at the entrance to the mansion. As a large group of guests including some media personnel from the North were looking on, the security men at the gate asked the elderly gentleman to step into the scanning machine for a thorough body check. Not satisfied with the first scan, they got him to step into the machine for a repeat check. The gentleman looked embarrassed, but readily submitted himself to this fussy body check.

The media personnel who later made inquiries as to why a no lesser person than a party leader and the Opposition leader of Diyawanna council to boot was subjected to such a humiliating situation had been told that the security detail at the gate did not identify the VIP.  However, Number One who later heard about the incident had refused to accept the excuse given and berated the security men responsible for the gaffe, they say.