Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says it was obvious that all the ‘Aragalaya’ related protests held especially in Colombo may have been motivated by the fear that if he continued in power, the Sinhala Buddhists would have been strengthened to the detriment of the minorities.
Rajapaksa further says that from day one, the so-called ‘Aragalaya’ was an operation inimical to Sinhala and particularly Sinhala-Buddhist interests, and it was well supported by foreign interests that had much the same objectives.
He made the statements in his newly released book, titled ‘The Conspiracy’, in which he shares the ordeal he went through during the final moments of his Presidency, from which he was ousted in 2022 due to anti-government protests.
Excerpts from the book on the composition of the ‘Aragalaya’:
After the so-called ‘Aragalaya’ began at Galle Face on 9 April 2022 and a tent city of protestors named ‘Gota Go Gama’ was declared, some commentators in the media stated that the Aragalaya had brought all ethnic groups and religions together to meet a common objective. Some, in fact, went so far as to say that chauvinism or ‘jaathiwadaya’ had been defeated by the young people who had all come together against my government. However, if one really analyses who was present at the Galle Face Aragalaya, it will become plain to anyone that these were sections of the population that were opposed to me anyway.
The minority communities were well represented within the Aragalaya because each had a motivating factor to be there. From the time we won the war against the LTTE, I was perceived as anti-Tamil. The agenda of the Tamil diaspora which called for a ‘united Sri Lanka’ instead of a unitary state was very visible within the Aragalaya. This has been a long-standing demand of those demanding a federal state and because of this, the slogan was projected onto the walls of the Presidential Secretariat during the Galle Face protests.
With the emergence of the Bodu Bala Sena in 2012 and my perceived involvement in that organisation, I was seen as anti-Muslim as well. The cremation issue that came up as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic seemed to confirm to those already prejudiced, that I was anti-Muslim. When I was elected to power in 2019, that was despite the Tamil and Muslim votes going overwhelmingly to my opponent. When I was sworn in as President, my location of choice was the precincts of the Ruwanweliseya a sacred site heavy with symbolism for Sinhala Buddhists. The statement that I made following my inauguration about being elected to the Sinhala Buddhist vote was also given various interpretations.
Due to a multiplicity of factors, the Tamil and Muslim communities both came together in the Aragalaya to oppose me. This was obvious in all the protests held especially in Colombo and may have been motivated by the fear that if I continued in power, the Sinhala Buddhists would have been strengthened to the detriment of the minorities.
There were the NGO-related foreign-funded liberal political activists, YouTubers, and social media activists, then there were the usual opposition types associated with various political parties, the JVP, FSP (Peratugami Party), SJB and the UNP. According to one prominent UNP functionary the UNP alone had 17 tents at Galle Face. Virtually all of those at the Galle Face Aragalaya site were those who would have opposed it. There were cricketers and their wives and various actors and actresses also in the scene.
As I pointed out in the introduction to this book, my very election to power was the result of a contest between the Sinhala and Buddhist interests on the one hand and all non-Sinhala and non-Buddhist elements on the other hand. Sections of the Roman Catholic Church also joined this lineup from the end of 2021 onwards despite the excellent relationship that I had maintained with the Catholic Church up to that time. If anyone was under the impression that the objective of the Argalaya was to eliminate fuel queues, gas queues and shortages of medicines and other essential items and to ease the hardships of the people, that is a delusion. The people participating in the Aragalaya had very different objectives and priorities. From day one, the so-called Aragalaya was an operation inimical to Sinhala and particularly Sinhala-Buddhist interests, and it was well supported by foreign interests that had much the same objectives. (NewsWire)