Rajapaksa Family History And Their 25 Years Of Politics In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, once a nation of beauty, is now burning with grudges following the struggles and protests of the people. Mahinda Rajapaksa has taken refuge in Trincomalee to escape the attack of the people and save his life. Now the crisis is over for President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as well.

The family politics of almost 25 years has taken different dimensions following the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The Rajapaksa family's misguided economic policies left the people who are now suffering even to have a piece of bread and their basic needs.

Thus, the people have been fighting for a month with the slogan 'Run away from the office' against President Gotabhaya, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and all the Rajapaksa family members who hold ministerial posts.

Sri Lanka people, including students, unions and Buddhist monks, have joined together in fighting against the Rajapaksa family, besieging the president and the Prime Minister's House. In many other countries, people are still unaware of the reason behind the protest and the Rajapaksa family.

Let us now dig into the history of the Rajapaksa family and their political life for 25 years. The Rajapaksa family is a family that has made a name for itself in Sri Lankan politics. It was the strongest family in the country during the reign of Mahinda Rajapaksa. And from 2005 to 2015, most family members held high political positions.

Parties In Sri Lanka: 

Initially, there were two main parties in Sri Lanka, the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. During the reign of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party leader, ethnic and religious politics were sharpened and legalized, with Sinhala being the only national language and Buddhism the only national religion in Sri Lanka. 

Rajapaksa Family:

During the British Ceylon rule, a landlord named Don David Rajapaksa lived. His sons are Don Mathew Rajapaksa and  Don Alwin Rajapaksa. Don Mathew Rajapaksa was in rule, but he died before his political life ended, and so Don Alwin Rajapaksa was elected without any election or poll. Don Alwin Rajapaksa  has Don David has four children Chamal Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Mahinda Rajapaksa: 

The party's Member of Parliament was Don Alwin Rajapaksa, the father of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Born in Hambantota in 1945, Mahinda Rajapaksa was actively involved in politics from an early age and was active in his father's election campaign. Mahinda Rajapaksa came into politics after the death of his father. He became a Member of Parliament in 1970 and completed his law studies in 1977 as he had been in politics.

Rajapaksa, who was deeply involved in politics, abruptly embraced defeat in the 1978 parliamentary elections and faced a series of defeats. Mahinda worked diligently as a lawyer during that period. He won re-election in 1989 and later won the 1994 election and served as Minister of Labor and later Minister of Fisheries in the Chandrika Kumaratunga-led People's Front government.

Mahinda Rajapaksa Rule:

Negotiations with the LTTE were held several times during Chandrika's rule, but they ended in failure. He later became the Leader of the Opposition in 2002 and the 13th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 2004, and in 2005 became the highest-ranking President of Sri Lanka.

From the time he became a minister in 1994, he began to intensify opposition to Tamils ​​and the LTTE. Sri Lanka males were forced to join the military. At a time when the opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe was taking a lenient stance toward the Tamils. In this situation, Mahinda contested for the presidency in 2005.

But the LTTE decided to boycott the election, which was the turning point for the Tamils. As a result, Rajapaksa won the election by a narrow margin with a minute vote difference. Perhaps if the Tamils ​​had voted, Ranil would have become the president, and the lives of the Tamils ​​would not have been so miserable.

Rajapakse, who took over as Sri Lanka's sixth president in 2005, has further sharpened racial discrimination in Sri Lanka. This was followed by intensifying the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, in which Tamils ​​were demolished. With the help of many powers, Rajapaksa actively campaigned to destroy the LTTE, razing all war ethics and overthrowing Tamils in 2009.

Because of the LTTE war against politics, many Tamils and Sri Lankan's died. By ending the war under the Rajapaksa rule, the people were happy. At that time, Sri Lanka, which was happy with the defeat of LTTE, did not realize that we were falling. 

However, in 2015, the Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe coalition came to power in Sri Lanka due to international pressure. Then Sirisena - Ranil Ranil was removed from the post of Prime Minister due to disagreement, and Rajapaksa abruptly became the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 2018 and then resigned as it was declared invalid by the court.

A human rights case has been filed against Rajapaksa in the United States. He is also accused of killing several journalists who wrote about the genocidal killings of Tamils. Mahinda Rajapaksa won the 2019 general election again and became the Prime Minister. While he was in politics, his brothers Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa brought him to a high positions, including a minister in politics.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party:

Rajapaksa, who has been with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, broke away from the party in 2018 and formed a new party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. Moreover, Rajapaksa's brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is currently the highest-ranking President of Sri Lanka. Another brother, Basil Rajapaksa, is a minister in Sri Lanka.

Rajapaksa Family And Their Corrupted Politics:

Apart from these, the Sinhalese people are now in unrest as many more members of the Rajapaksa family are mired in politics. TThe Rajapaksa family and their corrupted politics are the reason behind the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka.