People celebrating the end of the war across party lines. This achievement alone will place former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the most respected leader since independence. But his inability to rise to the occasion will cost the country dearly and he missed the chance to become the greatest Sri Lankan leader since King Dutugamunu.

By kassapa

Time was when the ‘Rajapaksa’ name the most marketable brand in Sri Lankan politics. That was after Mahinda Rajapaksa provided the political leadership to successfully defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. Being the smart politician that he is, he cashed in on that and romped to easy victories in presidential and general election victories the following year.

In hindsight, Rajapaksa wasted a historic opportunity to unite the nation. Had he advocated it (instead of Ranil Wickremesinghe, for instance), the majority Sinhalese community would have endorsed any concessions to the Tamil and Muslim communities. He didn’t; he was busy elsewhere, building an oligarchy where his family was at the helm and corruption, abuse of power and immunity from the law was the norm.

Though defeated in 2015, the Rajapaksas bounced back four years later, thanks to Basil Rajapaksa’s brainchild, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and more than a little help from a blundering ‘Yahapalanaya’ government which failed to ensure that the Rajapaksas did not get the justice they deserved. The Easter Sunday terror attacks was what finally convinced a majority of voters that they would rather have the Rajapaksas return than being sitting ducks for terrorists, yet again.

The Rajapaksas are back in the headlines now. They are being dragged through the courts and are having their privileges stripped, but by a different government now. Will it be truly different this time around or will we see a reenactment of the court dramas which became so commonplace in the early days of the ‘Yahapalanaya’ regime? Many factors will influence the final outcome.

For starters, the Jathika Jana Balavegaya (JJB) government and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake are very different opponents to the ‘Yahapalanaya’ team. Although there were those in the latter which genuinely wanted the Rajapaksas out of the political arena, there were others who were more powerful, such as Sagala Ratnayaka and Vajira Abeywardena, who guaranteed that this would not happen. They, through the influence they wielded ensured that court cases dragged on or failed because the due procedures were not followed in filing indictments. There will be no such mercy from the JJB government.

The JJB government also has no choice, really. Dissanayake won his election with less than an absolute majority vote but the people endorsed a JJB Parliament with an overwhelming mandate barely six weeks later, handing them that elusive two-thirds majority which allows it to amend the Constitution, if required. The strongest slogan in the JJB’s campaign was to ‘catch the thieves’ (‘horu allanava’).

The vast majority of voters who voted for the JJB voted for them, not because they expect the economy to be miraculously resurrected by a party that subscribes, at least in theory, to a Marxist ideology, but because they believe the JJB will ‘clean’ the country’s political system of its corrupt elements and put those who have plundered the nation’s wealth behind bars. If they fail to do so for whatever reason, it will be curtains for the JJB too, at the next national elections.

The JJB is already finding out that it will be no easy task. Most of the cases against the Rajapaksas relate to events more than a decade ago and, as Dissanayake told senior officers of Attorney General’s Department recently, files have been gathering dust for inexplicable reasons. In the meantime, key witnesses in some cases (in the alleged murder of Wasim Thajudeen, for instance), have passed away.

In recent weeks, the JJB government’s attempt to ‘clean up’ the political system and eliminate the Rajapaksas have begun in earnest. It began with reducing Mahinda Rajapaksa’s security. Rajapaksa’s response to slashing his security was to file a Fundamental Rights application that is now pending before courts. 

Dissanayake then took the unusual step of publicly threatening to evict Rajapaksa from his current residence at Wijerama Mawatha, going public with details of the massive expenses the state is incurring on behalf of its fifth Executive President.

The moves to evict Rajapaksa may have hit a constitutional snag: the current law appears to prevent retrospective changes and may require constitutional amendments. This maybe why Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said, ‘it is better if he leaves instead of waiting for a letter’. If such a letter is sent before amending the Constitution, Rajapaksa could challenge it in court, of course. The government could still have the last laugh: a constitutional amendment will take but a few weeks and can be easily passed in Parliament with the majority the JJB commands there.

The issues of security and an official residence however pale into insignificance in the face of the other challenges the Rajapaksas face. The two Rajapaksa siblings, Yoshitha and Namal were also in the limelight for the wrong reasons last week.

Yoshitha Rajapaksa was arrested for charges under the Money Laundering Act. This involves a property transaction where an explanation was famously offered that funds came from his grandmother who had received a bag of gems. Reports suggest that investigations in this case are almost complete and indictments will be filed shortly.

Hot on the heels of that news, older brother Namal Rajapaksa was indicted with misappropriation of Rs. Seventy million in the Colombo High Court. This money was reportedly provided by the Indian real estate company Krrish Lanka Pvt. Ltd. for the development of rugby in Sri Lanka. 

The stage is thus being set to slowly but surely bring the Rajapaksas to justice. Several other high-profile cases with more serious charges- including the murder of The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge and the assault of The Nation journalist Keith Noyahr- are reportedly nearing finalisation, so more court dramas are on the cards.

The outcome of this concerted legal campaign will determine whether the Rajapaksas will survive in Sri Lankan politics or whether they will perish, politically. It is unlikely that Basil Rajapaksa will return to the country in such an environment but tough time are ahead for the remaining Rajapaksas- Mahinda, Gotabaya, Namal and Yoshitha.      

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