Mahinda Rajapaksa: There Was A Plot To Kill The President

There was a plot to assassinate not only the president but also my brother gotabaya. I cannot say anything about any involvement of the r&aw in that conspiracy, because I have not got any information to that effect.

- Lakshmi Subramanian

The 278 km-long expressway connecting Colombo in the east with Kataragama in the south is lined by idyllic beaches and imposing mountains. It runs south from Colombo, tracing Sri Lanka’s southwestern coastline till it reaches Tangalle in Hambantota district, from where it arches inward to Kataragama, about 30km inland.

Tangalle is a small fishing port. A narrow road off the expressway takes you past posters of President Maithripala Sirisena and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, to a bronze statue of Dudley Senanayake, Sri Lanka’s second prime minister and founder of the ruling United National Party. Senanayake stands tall on a pedestal, pointing at Carlton House, a manor house across the street painted forest green.

It is 8 am on a Sunday, and a crowd has gathered outside the Carlton House gates. As they wait to go in, people turn in their cellphones and take tokens, and are frisked by armed guards and policemen. The visitors do not seem to mind the security measures; they are here to see their favourite leader.

Carlton House has long been the seat of the Rajapaksas. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s grandfather, father and uncle were headmen and prominent politicians in Hambantota, but the former president towers over all of them in popularity and charisma.

Rajapaksa is all smiles as he enters the visitors hall at Carlton House. He is clad in a white dhoti and kurta, with his trademark brown shawl around his neck. The shawl is a legacy from his uncle. It was Don Mathew Rajapaksa, who was state councillor in the 1930s, who first took to wearing the shawl to represent the main crop of Hambantota—the earthy-brown finger millet.

Earthy, however, is not the word one would use to describe Mahinda Rajapaksa. He sits on a huge, burgundy sofa and greets visitors with clasped hands, showing the gold rings that adorn almost all his fingers. He smiles as young men pump their fists and cry, “Mahinda