The struggle started on the first Friday of April 2022. They surrounded the then President, Gotabaya’s house in Mirihana. Oil and gas queues started at this time. By November 2021, there was no struggle. There were no oil or gas queues. All that could be seen was the problem of exploding gas tanks. The country that was closed due to COVID had opened up by November 2021, and then President Gotabaya had gone to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The November 28, 2021 ‘political analysis’ article headline was as follows.
Is this King Mahinda the Fifth’s famine?’
Below is that article.
When Mahinda contested the 2005 presidential election, Mangala, JVP and Hela Urumaya, who carried Mahinda on their shoulders and said that this is the sixth Mahinda of the dynasty. This sixth Mahinda was one of the main slogan of Mahinda’s election campaign. But none of these knew who was the fifth Mahinda who reigned in this country.
Who is this fifth Mahinda…?’
Mahinda V was the brother of King Sena V. He became king at an unfortunate time. It is mentioned in the Mahavamsa that he turned his back on royal doctrine. It is mentioned in the Mahavamsa that because of this, the people of the country failed to pay taxes. The government itself was in chaos due to non-payment of taxes by the citizens. The king’s servants and arm were not paid . The army rebelled against the king saying that they would not feed the king if they were not paid. Food production collapsed completely.
The people of the country fall to the extreme poverty levels. Fear of famine broke out in many parts of the country. The frightened king fled to Ruhuna. At this time, traders from India’s Chola region were coming to Sri Lanka for trade purposes. A horse trader who came here informed the king Chola about the situation in Ceylon.
Thinking that this was the best opportunity to capture Lakdiva , Chola King immediately sent an army to Ceylon. They went straight to Ruhuna. Soli Army sent a message to King Mahinda, who was hiding in Ruhuna, thinking that he would be troubled by the army of the kingdom and the people of the country. That is, King Soli is willing to sign an agreement to help the king protect his kingship. King Mahinda swallowed the rope. He came out of hiding.
The Chola army stole the king’s property and took the king like a prisoner to the Chola land . The Chola’s ruled the country by plundering Sri Lanka. King Mahinda died as a prisoner in Chola land. This is the story of the fifth Mahinda.
Every leader as well as leader’s family has a beginning as well as an end . Mahinda and Rajapaksa should have ended in 2019. But that end has come late. Today this government is like the V th Mahinda’s government. Today, the world’s most powerful countries are playing games to take over Sri Lanka’s electricity and oil supply to their hands. Like Chola king did to Mahinda the Vth, they promise that they will give dollars.
I don’t think people will vote for Vijayadasa Rajapaksa again…’
This is a story told by a tricycle driverWhy is that, what can that man do? not Not even a minister…?’
The passenger replied.
‘No sir, I don’t know if our people will vote for anyone with the name Rajapaksa…’
This is the story that the driver told as a joke.
Political Analysis’
Upul Joseph Fernando
28.11.2021
In November 2021, Mahinda loyals must have thought that the ‘Guruda Vigraha’ was crazy when the political analys wrote that what happened to Mahinda the fifth would happen to the Rajapaksa family including Gota. But today that madness has come true. Gotabhaya, Mahinda, Basil, Namal all had to run. Mahinda was safely hiding in an island so that he could escape from the country. Gota sought permision from India to escape from the country , but India was afraid to allow Gota to come to India.
Finally Gota had to find a country to escape to. Basil was on his way to the airport when he was stopped by airport immigration officials. Namal was also in hiding. If you look at it in that manner , what happened to the Rajapaksa family is what happened to Mahinda the fifth. If Ranil had not been the president, two or three members of the Rajapaksa family would have ended up in the jail like Mahinda the fifth. It was Ranil who saved the Rajapaksa family from that disaster.
What is going to happen to Ranil now…?’
Mahinda Pathirana is Basil Rajapaksa’s spokesperson. During the struggle, Mahinda Pathirana spoke fearlessly for Rajapaksas, especially for Basil Rajapaksa, when all supporters of the Rajapaksa family, spokespersons and disciples were hiding. Even when the activists named their toilet as Mahinda Pathirana he was not shaken. He single-handedly fought for Basil and the Rajapaksa family on his Facebook page. Recently, Mahinda Pathirana had written a good note about Mahinda Rajapakse’s story in Kalutara which said that Ranil have come to the right path now and said we need to protect Ranil’s government. Below is the note what he wrote.
People know politics
People know who Mahinda is. This old mother has more brains than those who don’t even know what they are doing, who talk about the struggle nowadays, ‘Ranil is now on the right path. When Mahinda says that we will say good things about Ranil, She and the group laugh. Because they know politics. Look at their smile. It has a different dosage. It has the character of having secretly sinned, but forgiving the sin.
They know that Ranil was the only person who could have been brought at that time. Mahinda and Basil did it when Gotabhaya tried to start a new round by bringing Fonseka to the Prime Minister’s chair. When America, India and China all opposed each other for different reasons, we were able to bring the desired person to the country. It is a victory for the country. That is politics. Politics means making decisions in the most difficult times. Mahinda and Basil took it. People know that. They do politics on their own.
These same people brought Mahinda in 2005. These mothers and fathers are very proud that Sri Lanka is a united country today because of the right decision they made that day. Mahinda fulfilled their needs. Therefore, the relationship between Mahinda and these people is beyond politics. No one can break it.
In 2015, when Mahinda was defeated and Sirisena was elected, all the achievements our country had reached up to then turned downwards. The economy collapsed. Politics became unstable. It all started when Sirisena, who came as a non-partisan, became a party member and started dancing madly. So every bad thing happened. Finally, people asked for someone like Gotabaya. But Gotabhaya, who was asked , was not with Gotabhaya we got, so it was a mistake. People know that too. People know that in the middle of all these economic crises.
To the political toddlers we tell, we will rise again. Mahinda, Basil, Ranil, we all rise together. No one can stop it. People know that. People know politics. No matter what the talk shop says, they are not relevant to people. People do politics alone. Personally…’
There are three stories in this post that people don’t know about. The first story is that not only the strugglers wanted to send Gotabhaya home, but also the Rajapakse family including Mahinda and Basil, Namal. The reason for that is because Gota did not fulfill the wishes of the Rajapaksa family, and because of the pressure Gota put on Basil, Namal and Mahinda to leave in the middle of the struggle, it is clear that all three of them have enmity with Gotabhaya.
Gota first asked Namal to resign from the cabinet. Basil was then forced to resign from the post of Finance Minister. In the end, Mahinda was pressured to resign from the post of Prime Minister. In the end, all these three must have thought that Ranil is better than Gota. Even if Gota is in their family and Ranil is out of the family Ranil is better. They must have thought that they cannot do politics again under Gota, and that Ranil will create an environment where they can do politics again. What Mahinda Pathirana, Means by we all rise together, is this.
The second story Mahinda Pathirana has also denied the story that Ranil accepted the Prime Minister ship because Sajith said that he ‘could not accept’ the story that Ranil and Ranil’s cabinet were telling daily in the morning and evening. Mahinda Pathirana, who knows Basil’s secret conspiracies, says that Gota, who on the second round, went to make Fonseka the prime minister.
But Mahinda Pathirana has failed to mention about the invitation Gota extended to Sajith to accept the Prime Minister ship in his note. Gota first invited Sajith. Second is Fonseka. The spokesman of the Rajapaksa family has mentioned that giving the post of prime minister to both of them is creates a conflict within the Rajapaksa family.
This means that Mahinda Pathirana has proved with evidence that the Rajapaksa family was of the firm position that none of these two should be given the post of Prime Minister. It is clear from that that Mahinda resigned as Prime Minister on the condition that Ranil should be made Prime Minister.
When Sajith expressed his willingness to accept the post of Prime Minister with conditions, Gota did not heed to it and made Ranil the Prime Minister at the will of the Rajapaksa family. It is very clear that the story that Sajith was excited and scared and Ranil accepted the challenge fearlessly is a lie.
The third story is Mahinda Pathirana’s story that when the three countries, America, India, and China, oppose each other for their own reasons, Mahinda Pathirana says that we have brought whoever we want to the country. Mahinda Pathirana has denied the story of Namal and other Podujana Peramuna members saying that Ranil was made president because of international relations.
If the United States, India and China opposed Ranil’s presidency for one reason or another, it is impossible to think that Ranil would get international support to solve this economic crisis. On the other hand, Mahinda Pathirana says that when America, India and China were against, the Rajapaksa’s brought whoever the country needed. But realty is the person brought is not the person the country wants, but the person the Rajapakse family wants.
Looking at it that manner, Ranil does not have international public opinion. There is no public opinion in Sri Lanka. There is only an opinion of the Rajapaksa family and the mainstream media of the country who shop for the Rajapaksa family. Because of this, according to Mahinda Pathirana, Ranil cannot stand alone. Will Ranil have to get up with Mahinda, Basil and Namal? If Mahinda, Basil and Namal don’t stand up, Ranil can’t stand up either.
By Upul Joseph Fernando
