The Gotabaya Rajapaksa story: a champion of Sinhala pride to fugitive leader

“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 past few months changed everything — both for Sri Lanka as well as Gotabaya.

Gotabaya, who resigned on Thursday after fleeing the country, is now in Singapore, a fugitive leader. For Ali, now 31 and a prominent face of the Argalaya, the youth-led protest movement that triggered the call for change amid a gruelling economic crisis, it’s a case of priorities set right.

“Killing terrorists is acceptable,” he says, “We do appreciate that. But they cannot do what they want.”

Since the war ended, Gotabaya, having earned a demi-god-like status, ruled the country through fear. As Defence Secretary, he silenced his critics — some through white-van kidnappings and killings — the most famous 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 pride, Buddhist extremist group Bodu Bala Sena got a free hand to unleash violence against Muslims.

That’s perhaps why Sanka Jayasekere, a 28-year-old wealth plan manager, 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.”