Four brothers in one government

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Four brothers in one government

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• The story: The Sri Lankan political situation is now centred around just one family - the Rajapaksas - with five of them in the government. 
• Who all: President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (also the Defence Minister), PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa and PM's son Sports Minister Namal.

1. There are a few more Rajapaksas at junior positions, reminding Sri Lankans of "family bandyism" (of the Bandaranaike ruling clan)
2. The 2.2 crore Sri Lankans are being guided now by just one family
3. The core support base is Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists who deeply suspect the Tamils and Muslims, and hate their rights
4. Sri Lanka is now emerging from a long civil war, and is finding itself in a big economic crisis

• The key man: The key to this power is Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was President earlier, and is PM now. He's the one who took the south Sri Lankan family national. He decimated the LTTE insurgency, and became the "war hero". Sinhala majority's support (south) was assured now. (Gotabaya did the dirty work on ground, as Defence Secretary)

1. Mahinda ruled for 10 years before M Sirisena (his colleague) dislodged him, in a new coalition
2. But President Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe fell apart and Mahinda was made the PM (later annulled by Supreme Court on technical grounds)
3. Rajapaksa was back soon as President but Gotabaya (not Mahinda) as there was a 2-term limit imposed by new constitution now 

• Adolf Hitler is back: The supporters of Gotabaya (72 yrs) compared him to Adolf Hitler (who'll bring prosperity), and his brother Basil called him "Terminator" (who'll end corruption). But all minorities knew what lay in store for them. It was Gotabaya who committed the large-scale human rights violations earlier (against Tamils), and ran death-squads against journalists. Basil is the organisation man, building the new party (the SLPP - Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna). 
• Internal power dynamics: Mahinda's power is steadily diminishing, and Gotabaya and Basil's is rising. Each has their distinct strengths. But the real problem now is that Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented financial and economic crisis, worsened by the Covid outbreak. People will judge the brothers now.
• Doer: President Gotabaya won on the promise of being a "doer" and must now do it! He appointed two dozen military-men to key administrative posts, and it's time to deliver. Basil is being seen as a worthy successor, but he's an American citizen, who was named as "Mr Ten per cent" by American cables (Wikileaks) for corruption cuts.
• Namal: The son of Mahinda is also seeing himself as the future President, and is cultivating his social media community carefully. 
• Summary: The family claims it stands united, and will take the country forward. So far, the brothers have indeed stood together.

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