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Colombo: When Mahinda Rajapaksa was vanquished in Sri Lanka's presidential elections in 2015, many thought the shrewd leader, known for his brutal military campaign against the Tamil Tigers, was a spent force.
But five years later, the 74-year-old leader is back at the top in Sri Lankan politics along with his three siblings, winning the general elections held on Wednesday.
However, it has not been smooth sailing for Rajapaksa, a veteran street-fighter politician who entered Parliament when he was just 24. After losing the seat in 1977, he focused on his law career until reentering Parliament in 1989.
Rajapaksa served as labour minister (1994 2001) and minister of fisheries and aquatic resources (1997 2001) under President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who appointed him as prime minister after the general election of April 2004, when the United People's Freedom Alliance won a majority.
He was chosen as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's presidential nominee in November 2005. Shortly after his victory in the election, Rajapaksa announced his intention to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had established a de facto government in northern Sri Lanka.
Ending the nearly 30-year-long bloody civil war with the LTTE, where all his predecessors had failed, Rajapaksa became a hero and used it to return to power with a thumping win in 2010, leading to political analysts labelling him "a man with a midas touch."
Rajapaksa had acknowledged a number of times that his crowning moment in his over four-decade political career was the victory against Tamil Tigers.
However, he was accused of condoning sexual violence and extrajudicial killings allegedly by Lankan security forces during the civil war, which ended in May 2009. He was also accused of approving a crackdown on dissent.
During his presidency from 2005 to 2015, Rajapaksa consolidated his position. The Constitution was changed to allow him to serve a third term, and his three brothers - Gotabaya, Basil and Chamal - were awarded influential positions, leading to accusations that he was running the country like a family firm.
His domestic popularity appeared to wane during 2014 because of rising prices and concerns of corruption and abuse of power, and, in an attempt to secure another presidential term before losing support, he again called for an early presidential poll. But his political gamble backfired and he was defeated in the elections in 2015. Maithripala Sirisena, formerly a member of Rajapaksa's cabinet, defeated him and was sworn in as president.
During his tenure as president, Rajapaksa concluded several deals with China, raising concerns in India and the West.
Critics say it was due to Rajapaksa that the country has fallen into the "Chinese debt trap". The strategic Hambantota port, which was funded by a Chinese loan during his regime, was leased to Beijing on a 99-year debt-for-equity swap in 2017 after the country failed to pay off the debt.
In 2015, Parliament restored a constitutional two-term limit on the presidency barring Rajapaksa from contesting again. In August, Rajapaksa was elected to Parliament.
After their defeat in 2015, the Rajapaksas were battling arrests and corruption cases in court. There were scores of cases filed against them for alleged misappropriation and the cases are still pending.
Three years later, Rajapaksa was briefly appointed as the prime minister in October 2018 by then-President Sirisena, who sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a controversial move that plunged the country into a constitutional crisis. Rajapaksa resigned on December 15 after the Supreme Court declared that the dissolution of Parliament by Sirisena was "illegal".
Later, Rajapaksa and his supporters in Parliament defected from the ruling party and joined the SLPP, founded by his brother Basil, and he formally became the Leader of the Opposition.
The Easter bombings on April 21, 2019, that killed more than 250 people was a turning point in Sri Lankan politics as the then government appeared to have failed to act though it had advance intelligence report of an impending terror attack.
The SLPP led by the Rajalaksas lambasted the government of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe for the failure on the security front.
The SLPP also announced the presidential candidacy of Rajapaksa's brother Gotabhaya, who had served as his defence minister in the final years of the civil war against the LTTE.
The brother-duo promised security to Sri Lankans who became worried about Islamic extremism in the Buddhist-majority country. Gotabhaya won the presidential election in 2019.
After becoming President, Gotabaya appointed Rajapaksa as the prime minister of the caretaker cabinet until the general election in August 2020.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa on his party's performance in the parliamentary elections, with early trends showing that it was headed for a landslide win.
Modi also commended the government and the electoral institutions of Sri Lanka for effectively organising the elections despite the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
He also appreciated the Sri Lankan people for their enthusiastic participation in the elections, and said this reflected the strong democratic values shared by both countries.
Modi noted that the incoming results of the elections indicate an impressive electoral performance by the SLPP, and conveyed his congratulations and best wishes to Rajapaksa, the statement said.
In a tweet, Modi said: "It was a pleasure to speak to you. Once again, many congratulations. We will work together to further advance all areas of bilateral cooperation and to take our special ties to ever newer heights."
Thank you, Prime Minister @PresRajapaksa! It was a pleasure to speak to you. Once again, many congratulations. We will work together to further advance all areas of bilateral cooperation and to take our special ties to ever newer heights. https://t.co/123ahoxlMo
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 6, 2020
Rajapaksa also thanked Modi on Twitter for the congratulatory phone call.
"With the strong support of the people of Sri Lanka, I look forward to working with you closely to further enhance the long-standing cooperation between our two countries," Rajapaksa said.
"Sri Lanka and India are friends and relations," he said.
Thank you PM @narendramodi for your congratulatory phone call. With the strong support of the people of #SriLanka, I look forward to working with you closely to further enhance the long-standing cooperation between our two countries. Sri Lanka & India are friends & relations. pic.twitter.com/9YPLAQuVlE
— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) August 6, 2020
Recalling their cordial and fruitful previous interactions, the two leaders reiterated their shared commitment to strengthen the age-old and multi-dimensional India-Sri Lanka relationship, the statement said.
They stressed the significance of early progress in all spheres of bilateral cooperation.
Modi informed Rajapaksa about the establishment of an international airport in the Buddhist pilgrimage city of Kushinagar in India, and said the city looked forward to welcoming visitors from Sri Lanka at an early date.
The leaders also agreed to remain in close touch as both countries address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and resolved to take bilateral relations to newer heights in the coming days.
(PTI)
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