Rise and fall of Ruhunu Rajapaksa dynasty

‘Is the “House of Rajapaksa” Falling Down?’ was the heading of an article written by me for our sister paper the “Daily Mirror” two and a half years ago. The article was published on 23 April 2022 when the “Aragalaya” (struggle) protests were going on. The article focused on the Rajapaksa family and its struggle to stay afloat in power despite the rising tide of public resentment and anger. The following two paragraphs are excerpted from that article:

“At one point in time the Rajapaksas seemed all-powerful and invincible. Today the wheel has turned full circle. The Rajapaksa brand is crumbling. The House of Rajapaksa is tumbling. The reasons are well-known and need no elaboration at this juncture. The agitation at Galle Face in particular and the related protests in different parts of the country in general are all focused on ousting the Rajapaksas from power. Initially it seemed that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the sole target. Subsequently the protest enlarged into one demanding the exit of the entire Rajapaksa clan and a return of the loot allegedly robbed by the family over the years.”

“One thing however is crystal clear. President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Rajapaksa and their Govt. may be able to withstand the protests and stay in power without stepping down but their effectiveness would diminish. The Rajapaksa regime would only be a ‘lame duck’ Govt. Furthermore it is highly unlikely that the Rajapaksas would be able to regain power and prestige as a dominant political dynasty again. Individual Rajapaksas could remain in politics but being a dominant political family again seems out of the question. The House of Rajapaksa may not see a total political downfall but it is certainly falling down.”

As is well known the house of Rajapaksa did fall. With Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s exit and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s entry, effective power shifted from the Rajapaksas to Wickremesinghe. The Rajapaksa dynasty’s political power and influence began eroding. This was made clear when the Presidential elections were held this year. When the Rajapaksas backstabbed Wickremesinghe by refusing to support his candidacy, over 90 MPs of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) crossed over to Ranil’s side.

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eldest son and crown prince of the Rajapaksa dynasty Namal Rajapaksa contested as the SLPP candidate in the Presidential election held on 21 September. He fared miserably polling only 342,781 (2.57%) votes. Moreover Namal Rajapaksa was trounced in the family citadel of Hambantota district. Fearing perhaps another drubbing, Namal has refrained from contesting the Parliament election scheduled for 14 November. He has opted to be on the national list.

Thus for the first time in about eight decades, a member of the Rajapaksa dynasty will not be contesting from Hambantota district in an election to the legislature. Namal’s first cousins Shasheendra Rajapaksa and Nipuna Ranawaka will be contesting from the Moneragala and Matara districts respectively but none from the Medamulana clan are in the field on their home turf Hambantota. 

This shows that the Rajapaksa moon has waned. It remains to be seen as to whether it would wax again. What is certain however is the fact that the Rajapaksa political dynasty has reached a dead end. It is against this backdrop therefore that this column – with the aid of earlier writings – traces the political rise and fall of the Rajapaksa dynasty this week.

House of Rajapaksa

The Royal Family in the UK is known as the House of Windsor. The Rajapaksas are neither royal nor aristocratic, but as one time “rulers” of Sri Lanka the family could very well be dubbed as the “House of Rajapaksa”. At its zenith, the House of Rajapaksa had four Rajapaksa brothers from one generation holding the reins in Government as President, Prime Minister and cabinet ministers. 

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also the Minister of Defence. Ex-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was Minister of Economic Policies and Plan Implementation, Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs and Minister of Urban Development and Housing. Basil Rajapaksa was Finance Minister. Eldest brother Chamal Rajapaksa was Cabinet Minister of Irrigation. He was also the State Minister of National Security and Disaster Management. It was estimated then that 72% of the total budgetary allocations to ministries were to those under the purview of the Rajapaksa family. 

Then were also three politicos from the younger generation in the Rajapaksa family. Mahinda’s son Namal Rajapaksa was the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development. Chamal’s son Shasheendra Rajapaksa who was earlier the Chief Minister of Uva Province was a state minister with an “extensive” portfolio. He was the Minister of State for Organic Fertiliser Production, Supply and Regulation and Paddy and Grains, Organic Food, Vegetables, Fruits, Chillies, Onion and Potato Cultivation Promotion, Seed Production and Advanced Technology for Agriculture. In addition to Namal and Shasheendra, another cousin Nipuna Ranawaka was an elected MP. He is the son of the youngest Rajapaksa daughter Gandani Ranawaka who is no more.

Political families

The rise and growth of ‘political families’ have been a common occurrence in Sri Lanka. Ever since the island known formerly as Ceylon gained limited forms of representative democracy through Legislative and State Councils during British rule, the practice of members of the same family seeking posts through elections became widely prevalent. The advent of parliamentary elections coupled with freedom from colonial bondage saw the political dynasty phenomenon gain further mileage. Political families began proliferating at multiple levels from local authorities to the supreme legislature. 

Family politics became a familiar feature of Sri Lanka’s political landscape cutting across race, religion, caste and creed. A perusal of a list of Sri Lankan political families in alphabetical order starting from the Abdul Majeeds of the East and going down to the Yapa Abeywardenas of the South would reveal that ethnicity is no bar to family bandyism of a political nature in Sri Lanka. 

There are various types of political dynasties at different levels from the national, provincial, district and electoral division levels. There are also different degrees of pedigree and vintage in these dynasties. While there are many regional and sub-regional political families, there have been only three major family formations dominating politics at a national level so far in Sri Lanka. 

The first was the ‘Bothale Dynasty’ of D.S. Senanayake, his son Dudley Senanayake and nephew Sir John Kotelawala along with extended family members J.R. Jayewardene and Ranil Wickremesinghe. The next was the ‘Horagolla Dynasty’ of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, his wife Sirimavo Ratwatte Bandaranaike, daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and son Anura Bandaranaike. Interestingly, Chandrika’s husband Vijaya Kumaratunga though an actor was also a politician. Both the Bothale and Horagolla dynasties were paramount in 20th century Sri Lankan politics since Independence. 

Medamulana Dynasty

The third political family that came into its own in the 21st century was the ‘Medamulana Dynasty’ comprising the family members of Don Alvin Rajapaksa – sons Chamal, Mahinda, Basil and Gotabaya along with grandsons Namal, Shasheendra and Nipuna.  

Although the ‘Ruhunu Rajapaksas’ have been in politics for several decades starting from the days of the State Council, its ascendancy to the pinnacle of power came only in the new millennium. This became possible only after Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa, known to his country and the world at large as Mahinda Rajapaksa, became Sri Lanka’s fifth Executive President on 18 November 2005. Thereafter, the Rajapaksas established themselves rapidly as the ‘numero uno’ family in Sri Lankan politics. 

Apart from Mahinda Rajapaksa as President, family members and extended family members monopolised plum positions. Various posts in different spheres – from Defence Secretary to diplomatic representative – were held by the clan. Some were elected to office while others were appointed. Some proved their capability by efficiently discharging their duties while others failed miserably demonstrating the negativity of nepotism. 

During the days of the Rajapaksa regimes, it was an open secret that no major enterprise or project could be undertaken in the island without the blessings of at least one Rajapaksa. In those days, most movers and shakers in Sri Lankan society derived their power and energy from the Rajapaksa ‘generator.

Don David Rajapaksa

The rise of Rajapaksas as a formidable political family in Ruhuna began with Don David Vidanarachchi Rajapaksa, the grandfather of Mahinda, Gotabaya and siblings and great grandfather of their offspring. Don David Rajapaksa hailed from Buddhiyagama at Weeraketiya in the Southern Hambantota District. The ancient Ruhunu Kingdom of the Sinhala Kings consisted of what are today the Administrative Districts of Galle, Matara, Hambantota and Moneragala. Don David or D.D. Rajapaksa was the hereditary ‘Vidane Arachchi’ or village headman of a cluster of villages and hamlets known as ‘Ihala Valikada Korale.’ 

The area inhabited by the Rajapaksa family was the division known as ‘Giruweva/Giruwapattuwa.’ It was an agricultural region where the growing of crops and vegetables, coconut cultivation and buffalo/cattle rearing were the basis of the local economy. ‘Slash and burn’ chena cultivation was a fact of life. Cultivation of ‘Kurakkan’ or millet was widely prevalent and the region was regarded generally as ‘Kurakkan Country.’ 

D.D. Rajapaksa had three sons and a daughter. The eldest was Don Coronelis Rajapaksa or D.C. Rajapaksa, who served as coroner of the area. The daughter was Dona Carolina Bandara Weeraman. The second son was Don Mathew Rajapaksa while the youngest son was Don Alvin Rajapaksa. 

The direct entry into electoral politics was made by Don Mathew Rajapaksa or D.M. Rajapaksa who was elected State Councillor during British rule. D.M. Rajapaksa was known popularly as the ‘Lion of Ruhunu.’ When universal suffrage was introduced and elections to the State Council were held in 1931, D.M. Rajapaksa supported V.S. Wickramanayake in the Hambantota constituency. Wickramanayake was elected. 

In 1936, D.M. Rajapaksa himself plunged directly into politics and faced hustings. In those days, candidates used different colours for their respective ballot boxes. DM chose brown, the colour of Kurakkan, to symbolise ‘Kurakkan Country.’ He won with a majority of 12,097 votes. 

Kurakkan “Sataka”

It was D.M. Rajapaksa who first started the practice of wearing a Kurakkan-coloured shawl to symbolise Giruwapattuwa. This was followed by his brother DA and his sons and grandsons later. The ‘Sataka’ worn by the Rajapaksas of today was not merely due to notions of sartorial elegance. The practice has deeper meaningful roots. 

Unfortunately, D.M. Rajapaksa died at the age of 49 in May 1945. His eldest son Lakshman born in July 1924 had not even reached the voting age of 21 then. The mantle therefore fell on his unassuming younger brother Don Alvin Rajapaksa. Their father D.D. Rajapaksa had died in 1912. 

While D.M. Rajapaksa had taken to social service and politics, his brother D.A. Rajapaksa had tended to look after the family occupation of farming and livestock breeding. The elder brother lived at the ‘Mahagedara’ in Kondagala and the younger at the Medamulana “Mahagedara.” 

D.A. Rajapaksa

After D.M. Rajapaksa’s demise, the people of Giruwapattuwa wanted D.A. Rajapaksa to step into his brother’s shoes. The simple DA, content with his agriculture, refused. Finally, a deputation of notables went in procession to the paddy field where DA was engaged in ploughing. The delegation had with them the nomination papers and pressed DA to replace his brother in the State Council. 

Finally, Don Alvin agreed. He washed the mud off his hands and legs and signed the nomination papers, whereupon one person removed his shawl and wrapped it around D.A. Rajapaksa in a symbolic gesture. The Kurakkan Sataka tradition continued. The Kurakkan Sataka became a hallmark of Rajapaksa family politics.  

D.A. Rajapaksa was elected unopposed to the State Council representing the Hambantota constituency on 14 July 1945. 

When he entered State Council and took his oaths on 8 August 1945, he became a member of the Executive Committee on Agriculture and Lands. 

After independence from Britain, D.A. Rajapaksa represented the Beliatta seat in Parliament from 1947 to 1965 with a short break in March 1960 when he lost to D.P. Atapattu of the UNP. D.A. Rajapaksa lost in 1965 to D.P. Atapattu again. D.A. Rajapaksa won Beliatta on the UNP ticket in 1947 and thereafter on the SLFP ticket till ‘65. 

Don Alvin Rajapaksa was a faithful deputy of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who crossed over from the UNP to SLFP on 12 July 1951. Five others – A.P. Jayasooriya, George R. de Silva, Jayaweera Kuruppu, D.S. Goonesekera and D.A. Rajapaksa – were supposed to follow suit, but when the moment came, only D.A. Rajapaksa crossed the floor behind Bandaranaike like his faithful shadow. The others got cold feet to cross over in the House but did so later. 

On 2 September 1951, the SLFP was formed. DA was one of the 44 signatories giving notice of the formation of the SLFP. In the May 1952 elections, the fledgling SLFP won nine seats. D.A. Rajapaksa was one of the nine victors.

 In spite of these impressive credentials and loyalty, D.A. Rajapaksa was not a minister in the 1956 Cabinet or 1960 July Cabinet. This was due to his simplicity, lack of ambition, love of his roots and abhorrence for the trappings of power. He served as a deputy minister in the SWRD Bandaranaike Govt. He was also deputy speaker after Sirimavo Bandaranaike became PM in 1960. DA Rajapaksa died in 1967.

Nine children

Don Alvin Rajapaksa married Dona Dandina Samarasinghe Dissanayake of Palatuwa, Matara. They had nine children – six boys and three girls. Their names are Chamal, Jayanthi (deceased), Mahinda, Tudor (deceased), Gotabaya, Basil, Preethi, Dudley and Gandini (deceased). DA who had lost elections in 1965 passed away on November 7, 1967.

Meanwhile, eldest son Chamal Rajapaksa joined the police force as a Sub-Inspector. After DA’s death, Sri Lanka Freedom Party leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike offered the post of party organiser for Beliatta to Chamal. He declined and recommended his younger brother Mahinda instead. 

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Mahinda Rajapaksa who studied at Richmond College in Galle and at Nalanda and Thurstan Colleges in Colombo was then working as an assistant librarian at VidyodayaUniversity later to be made Vidyodaya Campus and now Sri Jayewardenepura University. It was during this time that Mahinda got enamoured of left-leaning politics. He became a card-carrying member of the Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU).

Initially, Mrs. Bandaranaike was hesitant thinking Mahinda was too young and somewhat irresponsible. Later on, she relented and appointed Mahinda as Beliatta Organiser in 1968. This brought about a marked change in Mahinda. He buckled down to the task and strove to meet the challenge. He gave up his assistant librarian job and relocated to Medamulana. He began working with the people at the grassroots level. 

Beliatta MP

The 1970 elections saw the United Front sweeping polls with SLFP getting ninety-one seats and LSSP and CP winning nineteen and six seats respectively. Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa, known as Mahinda, defeated his rival from the UNP, Dr. Ranjith K.P. Atapattu to be elected as Beliatta MP. Mahinda got 23,103 votes and Ranjith 16,477. In 1977, the roles were reversed with Ranjith Atapattu winning 24,289 votes while Mahinda got 17,896. Interestingly, Mahinda’s father D.A. Rajapaksa and Ranjith’s father D.P. Atapattu had been rivals contesting Beliatta in each election from 1947. Sadly, both fathers were not alive to see their sons become Beliatta MPs. 

Those were the days when ministers were proportionately few and the fresher Mahinda remained a backbencher throughout the life of the 1970-’77 Parliament. Some changes made in the admissions criteria to Law College enabled Mahinda to enrol as a law student while being an MP. In July 1977, he lost the election but took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law in November that year. After becoming a lawyer, Mahinda moved to Tangalle and established a lucrative practice in the South. His politics too continued albeit on a lower scale. 

Hambantota MP

In 1989, Mahinda was elected to Parliament from the Hambantota District under new election procedures. While in Parliament, Mahinda along with Matara District MP Mangala Samaraweera worked tirelessly in opposing the UNP Government of the day and reinvigorating the SLFP.

The 1994 elections saw the People’s Alliance forming a government. Chandrika Kumaratunga became Prime Minister and later President. Mahinda was first appointed as the Labour Minister and later Fisheries Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle. In 2001, the UNP formed the government while Chandrika continued to be President. Mahinda Rajapaksa became opposition leader. In 2004, the UPFA formed the government and Mahinda became Prime Minister. 

President in 2005

In 2005, the presidential elections were announced. Despite many intra-party obstacles, Mahinda Rajapaksa secured nomination as the presidential candidate in the November 2005 elections. The LTTE-enforced boycott in the North and East in 2005 helped Mahinda defeat Ranil in the presidential poll. 

What happened thereafter is now history! The Rajapaksa Government pursued the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with ruthless determination. After many deaths and much displacement, destruction and despair, the war ended with the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. 

The Rajapaksas cleverly converted the war-victory euphoria into political victories in the 2010 presidential and parliamentary elections. The Ruhunu Rajapaksas perceived as the first family in Sri Lankan politics began ruling the roost thereafter. Mahinda lost the 2015 election and the Rajapaksas were out of power. The dynasty made a comeback in 2019 with Gotabaya at the helm as president. Rajapaksa misrule led to the Aragalaya. The Rajapaksas were compelled to relinquish power.

Downfall

The Medamulna political dynasty has now suffered a great downfall. It is however uncertain whether dynastic politics has ended in Sri Lanka or whether it would re-emerge again in new forms with new persons.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected].)