Hi,
This is Hot Mic and I'm Nidhi Razdan.
What next for Sri Lanka? The country's economic and political crisis has taken a dangerous new turn this week with protests turning violent and the ruling Rajapaksa dynasty in the eye of a storm. On Monday, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to step down after weeks of anti-government protests that have been demanding both his and his brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation. Monday was a terrible day. Rajapaksa supporters allegedly brutally assaulted peaceful anti-government protesters who have been taking to the streets for weeks now over the country's worsening economic situation. In the violence that followed, eight people have been killed and more than 200 people have been injured. The homes of more than 50 pro-government lawmakers were set on fire by arsonists, including the ancestral home of the Rajapaksas. While some anti-government protesters assaulted government supporters who turned up in the capital, Colombo, amid escalating violence on the streets. But so far, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has refused to budge.
So how did things get so bad, so fast? For months now, Sri Lanka's economy has been struggling with foreign exchange reserves depleting, the island nation has no longer been able to afford to import essentials like food, fuel and even medicines. This is, after all, an animport-dependent economy. But a month ago, protests began at the Galle Face Green in Colombo. This was mainly young protesters, students, professionals, others, people-driven, who were demanding the resignations of the Rajapaksas, accusing them of mismanaging the economy. 'Go Gota Go' has been their rallying cry. It is a stunning fall from grace for a political dynasty that has dominated the political landscape in Sri Lanka for decades. The Rajapaksas are nine siblings and Gotabaya, is the fifth among them. This is a political family from Sri Lanka's Buddhist dominated south. A little bit about them. Gotabaya Rajapaksa joined the military in 1971 and took part in operations against the LTTE. He then moved to the United States and returned in 2005, joining brother Mahinda's government as Defence Secretary. He was the man in-charge when the Civil War came to a brutal end in Sri Lanka, a war that saw up to 100,000 people dead. He was accused of human rights violations during his tenure, though legally the accusations never held up. Riding a nationalist wave in the wake of deadly terror attacks, Gotabaya swept to power as president in 2019. Months later, the Rajapaksa-led party crushed the opposition in parliamentary elections, and that helped his brother Mahinda become the Prime Minister. Gotabaya strengthened his hold on power through what is called the 20th Amendment, meanwhile, which gives the president extraordinary powers to appoint ministers, bureaucrats and even judges at his will and pleasure. Sri Lanka has had a troubled history with its finances and debt. Its expenses have basically far exceeded its income. Tax cuts that were enacted by Gotabaya in 2019 made things even worse, along with the pandemic which killed the tourism industry and therefore foreign exchange reserves fell even further. But the fall of the Rajapaksas from grace today also shows the limits of muscular nationalism, which has been the driving force behind their popularity. The majority Sinhalese saw them as heroes who defeated the LTTE. Both the Tamil and Muslim minorities in Sri Lanka have been at the receiving end of this majoritarianism. But today's economic distress has brought all communities together and stoking religious divides is no longer paying off as people struggle for basics. Who would have imagined that Mahinda Rajapaksa the former Prime Minister, would have to flee his home and take shelter at a naval base?
Whatever happens now, any new government in Sri Lanka has its task cut out. India, meanwhile, has given Sri Lanka financial and material aid worth three and a half billion dollars. New Delhi, too, does not want to be seen supporting an unpopular regime, and so has said it supports Sri Lanka's democracy, stability and economic recovery and that it "will always be guided by the best interests of the people of Sri Lanka expressed through democratic processes."