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- BBC News World
15 July 2022, 05:40 GMT
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Brothers in Better Days (2018): Both Mahinda (L) and Gotabaya Rajapaksa have served as President of Sri Lanka.
“Rajapaksa is the only last name in your country?”
That’s the punchline to a popular joke in Sri Lanka: An imaginary Chinese government official visiting the country is dumbfounded that every dignitary he meets shares the same last name.
But it’s easy to imagine how that joke came regarding: Until President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the island nation on July 13, his family had had a tight grip on the country for the past two decades.
That domain, however, has come to an end, in the midst of the worst economic crisis Sri Lankans have ever faced since they gained independence from the UK in 1948, and many experts have attributed the current calamities to mismanagement of the economy.
At the beginning of the year, there were six Rajapaksa in government, but this dominant family power might soon be relegated to a dim memory.
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Mahinda Rajapaksa served two terms as president between 2005 and 2015.
In May, another bearer of the famous name also fell: Prime Minister (and former President) Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned. His whereregardings are unknown.
Mahinda is the older brother of the current president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Slow start in politics
That, in itself, was already a seismic event.
“Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation marked a shameful reversal in fortunes for a man who for years was simply the most powerful person in Sri Lanka,” said Ayeshea Perera, Asia online editor for BBC News at the time.
Mahinda Rajapaksa had become the most famous member from a family that had not always had such strength in national politics.
They come from various generations of landowners in the southern district of Hambantota, and Mahinda was first elected to Parliament in 1970, as the youngest MP. Then, in the 1980s, both Mahinda and his older brother Chamal came to Parliament.
Maninda gained popularity by denouncing human rights abuses once morest a left-wing uprising that took place in 1987-89, a cause in which he asked the UN to intervene.
In 1994, he was appointed Labor Minister by the country’s new president, Chandrika Kumaratunga. Ten years later, he became prime minister and, in 2005, he narrowly won to become president.
Mahinda was President of Sri Lanka for two terms (2005-2015). In 2009, he was in charge of the bloody end to a civil war with Tamil separatists that had lasted almost 30 years.
His victory was marred by accusations of human rights violations, especially once morest ethnic and religious minorities – Sinhalese Buddhists make up almost 75% of Sri Lanka’s population – as well as allegations of corruption.
The former president vigorously denies these accusations.
Controversies did not prevent the Rajapaksa from monopolizing Sri Lankan politics: Gotabaya had held a high post in the Ministry of Defense and was praised by some for his handling of the civil war.
Chamal has held ministries such as Agriculture, Fisheries and Irrigation, and another brother, Basil, has been Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
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Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who succeeded his brother as president, also played an influential role in ending Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Several other relatives of the four brothers have held public officenotably Mahinda’s sons: Namal, who recently became Sri Lanka’s sports minister, and Yoshitha (who was chief of staff to the prime minister until his father’s resignation).
However, the family suffered a setback when Mahinda unexpectedly lost the 2015 presidential election.
But the family returned to power four years later, this time with Gotabaya at the helm – constitutional laws prevented the former president from running once more.
With a nationalist agenda, the new president capitalized on the family’s association with law and order: In April 2019: A terrorist attack linked to the self-styled Islamic State claimed the lives of more than 250 people.
Corruption Complaints
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Basil Rajapaksa held a number of important posts in the government, most recently as Minister of Finance.
However, the accusations of corruption once morest the family did not disappear and resurfaced with more force during the current protests that were motivated by the post-pandemic economic crisis.
“Many people believe that Mahinda Rajapaksa paved the way for his family to plunder the country’s wealth for their own financial gains,” added Ayeshea Perera.
Billboards and chants demanding that the family return the “stolen money” of the nation are things that are often seen in protests across Sri Lanka.
The collapse of the Rajapaksa’s reputation has produced divisions within the family. In late April, there were reports of a growing rift between Mahinda and Gotabaya and a subsequent power struggle between the brothers for control of their followers.
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In recent days, protesters have invaded properties associated with the Rajapaksa family, such as the former president’s official residence.
“Out Drop”
Economic difficulties led many of those who voted for Gotabaya to carry signs in the streets during the protests that read “Gota go home” (“Gota Out”), a play on words that refers to the nickname of the president.
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The last position held by Chamal Rajapaksa was as Minister of Irrigation.
Since then, anti-government protesters have invaded government buildingsincluding the residence of the president, where they were seen swimming in the private pool.
In other more heated incidents, protesters burned several properties owned by the Rajapaksa family, including their ancestral home in Hambantota.
Furthermore, the activists they destroyed the graves of their parents and the monument dedicated to them. As president, Gotabaya has been accused of embezzling state funds to build the monument.
Gotabaya’s escape in a military jet now appears to mark the moment when the Rajapaksa lost what had seemed an irrefutable grip on Sri Lankan politics.
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