Explained: Ranil and the Rajapaksas | Explained News,The Indian Express

As President Ranil Wickremesinghe starts on the most difficult assignment of his long political career, his greatest challenge will be to convince Sri Lankans that he is not a proxy for the Rajapaksa clan.

At the end of 2018, Mangala Samaraweera, then the Media Minister in the tottering National Unity Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena, made a remark that set off political ripples. As the government struggled to stay alive against the machinations of Mahinda Rajapaksa who was on the comeback trail and threatening to topple it, Samaraweera, who died last year, said: “… If we hadn’t won, Mahinda Rajapaksa would never have been able to go overseas. He would have been arrested. Mahinda Rajapaksa should actually light a lamp and worship Ranil Wickremesinghe every day. If he likes, he can even hang my picture next to the Prime Minister’s picture and worship. Because we saved him from becoming identified as an international assassin… ” (newsfirst.lk)

Samaraweera, an arch political foe of the Rajapaksas, was unlikely to have intended this remark to go down as a “secret alliance” or understanding between Wicrkremesinghe and the Rajapaksas. But long before then, in fact within months of entering office in 2015, Wicrkremesinghe was already seen as dragging his feet on the corruption investigations against the Rajapaksas. He appeared disinterested in the newly set up Financial Crimes Investigation Division, a separate unit in the police that had a mandate to investigate corruption cases. Nor was there much progress in the criminal investigation into the killing of journalist Lasantha Wickremtunge.

There were media reports too that the government had not followed up on inputs by western agencies on shipments of foreign currency notes out of Sri Lanka. Among civil society groups that had worked hard to put the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe “Yahapalanaya” (good governance) government in office, there was disappointment that the government had failed to proceed vigorously against the Rajapaksas as it had promised.

Sirisena, whose own political longevity depended on the government acting swiftly to put the Rajapaksas behind bars, also lost interest in keeping his rebellion against them alive, and decided that his own interests lay in burying the hatchet and accepting Mahinda’s leadership again.

This is why Wickremsinghe’s street cred has been so low. Just like his prime ministership, his win in Wednesday’s presidential election was built on the back of the Rajapaksa family party’s parliamentary numbers. In the eyes of many, this only deepens a discredited association, despite Wickremesinghe’s efforts over the last few days to put distance between himself and the ousted dynasty. Very few would expect that despite his vast powers as President, he will hold Gotabaya, Mahinda or any of the other Rajapaksas accountable for their alleged misdeeds. Instead, the more widespread belief is that they will once again get a free pass.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/sri-lanka-crisis-ranil-wickremesinghe-gotabaya-rajapaksa-8044438/


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