Mahinda has quit, but Sri Lankans want Gotabaya to go: Is this the end of the road for the Rajapaksa family?

Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down as Sri Lanka’s prime minister on Monday after protests over the country’s worst-ever economic crisis turned violent. The resignation came three days after his brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly asked him to quit and pave the way for an interim government. In a statement on Monday, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office said that he was quitting to help form an interim, unity government, following weeks of sometimes violent protests across the country over shortages of fuel and other key imports and rising prices. The resignation came as his supporters attacked peaceful protesters in the capital Colombo and its outskirts. Shots were fired from the prime minister’s official residence, as thousands of protesters breached the main gate and torched a parked truck, AFP reported. At least five people, including a ruling party member of Parliament, were killed; the ancestral home of the Rajapaksa family was set on fire in Hambantota and the houses of several ministers and former ministers were attacked.

Ancestral home of the Rajapaksa family in Medamulana, Hambantota set on fire by protesters. pic.twitter.com/QIEnREphjq

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The political impasse is far from over. Many want Mahinda Rajapaksa’s younger brother and President Gotabaya to also go. Does this mean the end of the road for Sri Lanka’s most powerful political family? We take a look at the Rajapaksas, their role in the island nation, and what is next for them. The Rajapaksas The Rajapaksas have been dominating politics in the island nation for two decades. Don Alwin Rajapaksa, the father of the outgoing prime minister and president, was a founding member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLLP). He was a two-time parliamentarian. Back then, at the helm of the party was SWRD Banadaranaike, another founding member and scion of a wealthy Lankan family. After his assassination in 1959, his wife Sirimavo took over. In 1994, Chandrika Kumaratunga took charge of the SLLP. By now Mahinda Rajapaksa has spent two decades in politics. He served as Cabinet minister during Kumaratunga’s two terms as president. Other members of the Rajapaksa family – elder brother Chamal and cousin Nirupama – are also in politics. After Kumaratunga quit politics, Mahinda became the president in 2005. With Gotabaya as his defence secretary, they were determined to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant separatist group fighting for an independent homeland for Hindu Tamils in northeastern Sri Lanka. In 2009, the civil war ended in Sri Lanka in which thousands of Tamils were killed or went missing. The Rajapaksas became more powerful. Led by the brothers, Sri Lanka embarked on militarisation of the Sinahalese-Buddhist majority. That was also when Mahinda inducted two score and more family members into various positions. There was large-scale corruption, reports The Indian Express. Mahinda served as president of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015 and as Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004. He made a comeback in local elections in 2018. President Mathripala Sirisena sacked the then PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed his old boss Mahinda as prime minister. Gotabaya won the 2019 presidential election and Mahinda won the parliamentary election in mid-2020. Mahinda, Gotabaya, and their brothers Chamal and Basil are third-generation politicians; the fourth generation is represented by Mahinda and Chamal’s sons Namal, Yositha, and Shashindra, according to The Indian Express report. Basil is a political strategist who managed the economy under Mahinda. He recently quit as the country’s finance minister. Chamal was speaker of parliament when Mahinda was the president and is also a former minister of shipping and aviation. He held the irrigation portfolio until recently, reports The Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_10655041” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  A Sri Lankan government supporter carries a national flag after attacking the anti-government protesters outside president’s office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, 9 May. AP[/caption] The China connection and the current crisis China has been an ally of Sri Lanka since the 1960s when Sirimavo was in charge. The Rajapaksas furthered ties with Beijing which helped in boosting infrastructure in the country. During the family’s first stint in office, the government took out big loans from China to invest in projects like a deep-sea port in its home district of Hambantota. But many projects stalled and foreign debt more than doubled between 2010 and 2020, reports Bloomberg. Chinese-built expressways connected different parts of the country, and in 2014, when a Chinese submarine stopped over at Colombo, even New Delhi was alarmed, according to The Indian Express. In 2015, Mahinda Rajapaksa was voted out as voters became wary of the corruption of the family, oppression, and the increased dependence on China. When Gotabaya won the presidential election he passed tax cuts in his first cabinet meeting in 2019. After The Easter bombings, western tourists were reluctant to travel to the island nation. The pandemic added to Sri Lanka’s financial stress as the tourism sector was severely hit. President Gotabaya’s sudden announcement last April on the complete ban on chemical fertislisers to make Lanka the first in the world to go completely organic, wreaked havoc on the economy. Amid all this, the island nation continued to receive large loans from China. In 2020-2021, Colombo’s debt repayment to Beijing amounted to nearly US $2 billion. Sri Lanka ran out of cash to pay for essential services like food and fuel, leading to long queues at petrol pumps and 13-hour long power cuts. The country’s healthcare system has nearly collapsed with the economic crisis leading to the shortage of medicine. The country is now seeing widescale protests for more than a month with Galle Face in Colombo becoming the epicentre of the agitation. Protesters have a simple message: “Gota go home,” referring to Gotabaya. [caption id=“attachment_10655051” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Sri Lanka’s pro- government supporters vandalise the camps of anti- government protestors outside the president’s office in Colombo, Sri Lanka. AP[/caption] Mahinda gone, what next for Gotabaya? Sri Lanka’s main opposition parties have issued two no-confidence declarations against the government. Mahinda was defiant but was finally forced to step down on Monday. However, protests hold Gotabaya more responsible for the ongoing economic crisis. The president has reimposed emergency in the country and is desperate to find a way out of the crisis that does not involve him stepping down. All his efforts to form an interim government under his presidency have not materialised. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the single-largest opposition party, in Lanka has rejected the president’s offer to join hands. However, it does not have the majority to form a government of its own. The violence is only going to add to the growing calls demanding Gotabaya’s resignation. But he holding his ground. The shortages continue in Sri Lanka as it continues to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout. And now the country is faced with political uncertainty as well. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.