Danish Ali was 18 when Gotabaya Rajapaksa grew to become a hero. It was 2009. Gotabaya, then the Defence Secretary, alongside along with his brother after which President Mahinda Rajapaksa, have been hailed for killing LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran and ending Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil struggle.
“I had just passed out of school, and I left for Australia to study soon after,” Ali says. “At that time, everyone was cheering him on as the great leader…but my family knew he was a racist and that they were invoking Sinhala pride to dominate over the minorities in the country.”
The previous few months modified all the things — each for Sri Lanka in addition to Gotabaya.
Gotabaya, who resigned on Thursday after fleeing the nation, is now in Singapore, a fugitive chief. For Ali, now 31 and a distinguished face of the Argalaya, the youth-led protest motion that triggered the decision for change amid a gruelling financial disaster, it’s a case of priorities set proper.
“Killing terrorists is acceptable,” he says, “We do appreciate that. But they cannot do what they want.”
Since the struggle ended, Gotabaya, having earned a demi-god-like standing, dominated the nation by means of worry. As Defence Secretary, he silenced his critics — some by means of white-van kidnappings and killings — probably the most well-known case being that of Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of The Sunday Leader who was killed in 2009.
Along with Mahinda, as Gotabaya continued to stoke Sinhala pleasure, Buddhist extremist group Bodu Bala Sena bought a free hand to unleash violence towards Muslims.
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That’s maybe why Sanka Jayasekere, a 28-year-old wealth plan supervisor, believes Gotabaya’s fall from grace is “karma”. And an irony. “The very leader who divided us all these years has become the biggest unifier of all communities, who came together and forced him to resign,” says Jayasekere.
“Everyone came together… If we — Sinhalas, Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians — were divided, we could have never achieved this goal. We showed the world that we can oust the most powerful family in Sri Lanka peacefully.”