Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had fled his chaotic country on July 13, returned home on Friday from Thailand, where he was camping after the Maldives and Singapore denied him refuge.
Rajapaksa, an ex-military officer, had become the Sri Lankan President in November 2019. Now, as a former president, he is entitled to a government house, security, and other privileges. Daily Mirror reported he will stay in a state bungalow close to Wijerama Mawatha in Colombo under heavy security cover.
But his return home may plunge Sri Lanka back into anarchy.
Gotabaya had fled the broke island nation, facing the worst-ever economic crisis since its independence from the British in 1948, after months-long mass public demonstrations demanding his resignation. Earlier, his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, had also fled to some unknown destination. His other brother, Basil, was prevented from fleeing Colombo.
And his successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, suspected as a Rajapaksa acolyte, was accused of keeping the seat warm for a safe return of the Rajapaksa clan, charged with plunging a relatively prosperous country into a basket case within a few years.
Bankrupt, Sri Lanka announced its default on nearly USD 51 billion of global debt in April. Barely had Colombo pacified the mass protestors and reached a preliminary and conditional USD 2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week that Gotabaya returned to allegedly fish in the troubled waters again.
Ever since Sri Lanka started facing shortages of foreign exchange, fuel, food, medicines, and electricity, among others, and prices sky-rocketed this year, mass uprisings marked the torching of Wickremesinghe’s residence and storming of Gotabaya’s palace, besides other chaotic but relatively peaceful incidents.
India is the only country to have provided the total help of USD 4 billion to help its neighbor face the adversities this year.
Rajapaksa, 73, fled Colombo on July 13 after months-long mass public demonstrations against his clan’s stranglehold on Sri Lanka. The people’s demand for his immediate resignation gained momentum on July 9 after protesters stormed the President’s House in Colombo and several other state buildings in the capital.
To save his skin, Gotabaya fled to the Bandaranaike International Airport amid a heavy security presence. Several ministers and parliamentarians of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party received him before he flew out with his family and guards on a Sri Lanka Air Force aircraft to the Maldives and then to Singapore, from where he sent in his resignation on July 14, and finally to Thailand.
He had sought temporary shelter in Thailand. Bangkok allowed him a 90-day stay, as he still carried a diplomatic passport, but he was not allowed to engage in any political activities. They confined him to a hotel under heavy security cover.
Some recent reports said Gotabaya had also sought political refuge in the US.
From Thailand, the media reported that Gotabaya traveled to Singapore to take the flight back home, as there are no direct flights between Bangkok and Colombo.
The IMF on Thursday announced to provide Sri Lanka with a loan of about USD 2.9 billion over four years under a preliminary agreement to help the bankrupt island nation tide over its worst economic crisis and protect the livelihoods of the people.
Local media reports on August 19 quoted SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam as saying that his party had requested President Wickremesinghe to facilitate his predecessor’s return and “ensure security and necessary facilities.”
After Rajapaksa’s ouster, Sri Lanka’s parliament elected then-Acting President and six-time former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new Head of State to serve out the rest of Rajapaksa’s term until November 2024.