Finally, they could take it no more. When thousands of Sri Lankans made a last-ditch push to save their country, they broke through every inch of resistance of the state. The military could not stop them nor could the police. They were not scared of bullets or canons, journalists became soldiers suffering violence and beatings as they stood up not just for their profession but as servants of the people.
As they stormed the presidential palace and set the Prime Minister’s house on fire, no one called them villains or criminals, or arsonists. All of them had one title — Sri Lankan.
Thousands of protesters barged into the presidential palace of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and captured his offices. By the time all hell broke loose and then calmed down President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ran because he was clearly the “other”. He was the enemy of the people and had no will or force to fight them.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the interim Prime Minister, who succeeded when Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president’s older brother, and a former president, was forced to step down in May, offered to quit even as his house was set on fire.
What happened in Sri Lanka is not just a lesson but underlining the reality that neither hard-nosed dictators nor champions of democracy really understand. But history and the people constantly come up with reminders just to let rulers know where they really stand. From the Quit India movement to the Sepoy mutiny to the Arab Spring, in democracies, dictatorships, and colonial rule, people’s power transcends, all else.
And while every wise man espouses the wisdom of the crowd, they should really fear the wrath of the crowd, when they risk everything for a cause that is right.
The Sir Lankans had nothing to lose. While they starved and had no fuel or food, or jobs and security, the people they elected continued to live a life of remarkable and shocking opulence.
People saw a massive palace with a grand staircase, swimming pools, fridges stacked with food, and all air conditioners running. This seemed a mirage in the desert of suffering and starvation. It takes courage and willpower to burn a Prime Minister’s house and storm a Presidential palace, jump into his pool, raid his fridges and sleep on Presidential beds. They had nothing to lose and when you have nothing to lose you have no fear.
The Island nation of 22 million people showed the world that you can bring down the President and Prime Minister of your country without a coup if they become enemies of the people. What Sri Lankans did today will go down in history as one of the epoch-making events of modern civilization.
It’s a country we knew because of our love for cricket and more than a passing interest in the LTTE and the guerilla war. But people power triumphed, for the right causes, over guerilla power. And when they entered the palace in hordes, tear gas and water cannons could not stop them This was a war between good and evil and Sri Lankans felt good would win.
The military tried because duty to the uniform made them. But they were unable to hold back the crowd perhaps realising that a sense of duty to your country is a duty to the people who make the country, not leaders who deceive.
Sri Lanka’s message couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. From Russia to the USA to Ukraine to the far east and even in countries in the subcontinent, including ours, never has the message of doing what is right and just towards your people been aptly conveyed. It is a lesson for humanity too. When you push the helpless against the wall and he has nothing left to lose, the retaliation will be forceful and fearless, of a proportion that the oppressor can never fathom,
Sri Lanka perhaps needed this purge because its leadership thought they could ride this through. But if the intent is to deceive and weaken the country and its people, while leaders live a life of plenty, they will meet this fate.
Sri Lankans gave the world not a political lesson but a big life lesson today.
