COVER STORY
JUSTABOUTFIVEYEARSAGO,
the Sri Lankanpeoplehandedto Pres-
identMahindaRajapaksa a decisive
electoral defeat andbroughtto power
an unlikelycoalitioncomprisingthe
twomainpoliticalparties.Withina
year,it wasclearthatthe newnational
governmentwouldnotbe ableto de-
liveron mostof its promises.Thesole
alternativein sight wasRajapaksa,
whosepopularity grew.
Afterthefiasco of October 26,
whenhe wasswornin PrimeMinister
butcouldnotprovehismajority in
parliament,Rajapaksaappearedto
have made, uncharacteristically, a
wrongpoliticalcalculation. Butthe
Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP)
leaderhas bouncedbackafterthe April21 explosionsand
is nowthemostpopular politicianin Sri Lanka.Ra-
japaksa is oneof the fewopposition leaders in the region
whogetsto meet PrimeMinisterNarendraModi; the
Indianleaderfinds timefor himin Colombo, regardless
of howshortthe tripis, andmakes timefor himwhen he
is in NewDelhi.
Politicalobserversin Sri Lankaare certainthatthe
nextPresidentwillbe a Rajapaksaman.MahindaRa-
japaksa himselfcannot contestbecauseof the two-term
limitfor the President. He spoketoFrontlineon various
issuesaffectingSri Lankain an interviewon June2 at his
Colombo residence.Excerpts:
The post-blastssituationin Sri Lankais complexand
doesnot lend itselfto quick-fix solutions.This comesat
atime whenthe legacyproblemof the Tamilquestion
still remains.How do you viewthese developments?
[Thesituation here]is verycomplex becauseit is all
createdby this government.TheTamilproblem,for
instance, wastherefor a longtime.Thisgovernment
thought thatit couldfind a solution, but it couldnot do it.
Andit wantsits poundofflesh.This
is the unfortunatething.So, the best
is thatwe haveto negotiate[withall
the players].
Butthisgovernmenthasfailed;
it cheated theTamilpeople.This
governmenttreatstheTamilsas a
votebankbutfinallydoesnotgive
themanything. Forgetthepolitical
solution, the basic needs of the
people, including infrastructurede-
velopment,hasnotbeentakencare
of in thepastfive years. Whatever
yousee nowis whatwasdonein my
time.Theyhavenotdoneanything.
Youaskthepeopleof theNorth
whethertheyhave at leastlaidsome
roads.No.You handledone kind of terrorism.Whathappened
recentlyis anotherkind of terrorism.How do you think
this shouldbe tackled?
Thiscanbe done. Thereis no magicin this.When the
religiousextremistswantto jointhe terrorists,the terror-
ists are readyandwaiting.Butthere are a lot of extremists
[whosubscribe to variouscauses]. So we needtofirst get
the correctpicture as to whatis happeningon the ground.
Thenwe needto negotiate withthemas afirst stepin an
attemptto convertthem.We haveto try to change them.
Wemustnotallowthe IslamicStateto influenceSri
Lankans.It hasto be donethroughtheMuslimcom-
munity....We haveto tackleit properly.We haveto study
it andthenworkon solutions.Now,the entireMuslimcommunityin Sri Lankais under
watchand undersiege.You saw that in Kurunegala[a
centralSri LankantownwhereSinhalamobsattacked
Muslims]...
Thesearepeoplefromoutsidewhocameto create
trouble. Notthe[local]villagers.Whensomethinglike‘We are getting a
lot of support’
InterviewwithformerPresidentMahindaRajapaksa.
BYR.K.RADHAKRISHNANINCOLOMBOMAHINDARAJAPAKSA,
SriLanka’s Leader of theOpposition,
at a functionin Bengaluruin February.K.MURALIKUMAR