Crisis Won’t Go Away Even If Gota Goes

The economic plan Sri Lanka needs cannot happen without fresh elections, national & provincial

- Jehan Perera

The night-time torching of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence this past Saturday (July 9), where he and his wife reside, brought a momentous day in Sri Lanka to an ugly close. There is widespread sympathy for the PM, who had willed his house, built by his father, to his alma mater Royal College just across the road.

However, reflecting the divisive and hate-filled politics of Sri Lanka now, there are also many who do not feel that same sympathy for a man who is seen as taking over the PM’s post, and bailing out the Rajapaksa-led government, at a time when there is wide-spread public sentiment that the Rajapaksas and government should go.

How Saturday happened

The events of Saturday commenced peacefully with tens of thousands of people from all parts of the country converging on Colombo and to the main site of the anti-government protests that have been taking place on a daily basis for the past four months. They came in makeshift transport, many in open trucks and on foot. There are social media posts of schoolchildren who cycled six hours to get to Colombo.