Colombo- The four Rajapaksa brothers, who have a wide influence in history, decided… Sri Lanka Speaking, he will not run for the parliamentary elections that will be held next November in the country, for the first time.
The Rajapaksa family was one of the three families that exchanged power in Sri Lanka since independence from British colonialism in 1948. Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed power from 2004 until 2015, and his younger brother became pregnant. dive Al-Meshaal died in 2019 until he fled the country due to popular protests in 2022.
Basil and Chamal Rajapaksa held ministerial positions of great importance in all successive governments headed by Mahinda and Gotabaya.
Declining popularity
Analysts believe that the Rajapaksa brothers did not run due to the recent decline in their popularity, which will cause the collapse of the influence of the next generation of their family in the political arena, especially since the “charismatic personality” Mahinda not running will have a negative impact on his son Namal.
No one expected the Rajapaksa family to back down so quickly, and “this is a disastrous situation for them,” says Manjula Gajnayake, executive director at the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies. He explained that popular protests during the economic crisis in 2022 hastened their departure from politics.
For his part, Pakiasudi Srinamuthu, executive director of the Alternative Politics Institute, said that the Rajapaksa family knows that the masses have decided to defeat them in the upcoming parliamentary elections, so they do not want to compete to lose.
Mahinda Rajapaksa (then President) and Gotabaya (Secretary of the Ministry of Defense at that time) played an important role in defeating the movement Tamil Tigers In 2009, the Sri Lankan government fought for three decades to create an independent state for the Tamil minority in the north and east of the country.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Sronamoto believes that Mahinda won the war and lost the peace, and believes that he has a place in the history of Sri Lanka because he defeated the Tamil Tigers movement, and he carries a legacy in this regard, but he did not provide a political solution to this ethnic problem.
The Tamil people of northern and eastern Sri Lanka are demanding a handover of power, including power to create their own police system and the authority to administer lands in their provinces in accordance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the movement have been accused of violating human rights in the final phase of the country's civil war, but the government denies the accusations against it.
Corruption and racism
Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies, Gajnayake, told Al Jazeera Net that Mahinda Rajapaksa succeeded in leading the war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009, so the people gave him a massive victory in the 2010 presidential elections, but “the problem is that he and his relatives used this victory as a license to steal.” “.
The Rajapaksa brothers were accused of receiving kickbacks from government projects during their rule, and loans from… China To boost their image by building an airport and port in an area of southern Sri Lanka “that does not produce income to repay the loan.”
According to Ghagnayake, Mahinda used the victory of war and racism against Muslims and other minorities as a tool to stay in power. In turn, the Executive Director of the Alternative Policy Institute, Sronamoto, believes that racism against Muslims is one of the most important reasons for the deterioration of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s popularity in the 2015 presidential elections.
Mahinda's era is considered “the most racist against Muslims in Sri Lanka,” as campaigns by extremist Sinhalese Buddhist organizations spread during his reign to boycott products certified as halal by the Sri Lanka Scholars Association. There were also racist attacks against Muslims, such as violent attacks on their property in Alutjama in the west of the country in 2014.
In Sronamoto’s opinion, the Rajapaksa brothers followed the policies of the Sinhalese majority, as the Muslim doctor Muhammad Shafie was “falsely” accused of sterilizing (preventing births) Sinhalese women, and the bodies of Muslim coronavirus victims were forcibly burned in violation of the teachings of Islam and the opinions of experts in the field.
On the other hand, Gajnayake explained that during the era of the Rajapaksa brothers, foreign policy was pro-China, not India They wanted to pursue a policy that was seen as both anti-Western and pro-WesternBeijingAnd it was designed to please voters in Sri Lanka.
Strategic place
Sri Lanka is located in a strategic location in Silk Road Marine in the Indian Ocean, near southern India. China has invested $12.1 billion in infrastructure in Sri Lanka, according to a report by Chatham House Research Center. India believes that Beijing's influence in Colombo threatens its national security.
According to Gajnayake, the Rajapaksa brothers did not pursue a balanced foreign policy and relied on China, so they faced a fuel crisis, but India provided multifaceted aid to Sri Lanka during the economic crisis in 2022, amounting to $4 billion.
Colombo faced the worst economic crisis in its history in 2022, and there were insufficient quantities of fuel, medicines and food in the country. Due to low foreign exchange reserves, Sri Lanka was unable to repay the loans and declared bankruptcy.
The people began the famous “Argalya” protests due to the economic crisis, which led to the flight of President Gotabaya in the same year, and the Supreme Court ruled in November 2023 that Gotabaya and Finance Ministers Mahinda and Basil Rajapaksa bear responsibility for this crisis.
Gajnayake said, “Gotabhaya was like a child working under the supervision of his parents and elder brothers, during the rule of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, but when he assumed the presidency, he had no one to rely on.”
He believes that the Gotabaya crisis is due to two reasons:
- the first: The “Fiat Maga” organization was his main supporter and was seen as a volunteer force working for the betterment of the country, but in reality it was “racist”.
- the second: It is that his family did not support him, and he is a person who was created through media campaigns and advertisements only. He may be a good officer but he is not a good leader to move a country forward in South Asia.