With protests raging in Sri Lanka amid its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, the pressure keeps mounting on the Rajapaksas, the “first” family of the country of 22 million people.
Skyrocketing debt, shrinking forex reserves, and mounting public anger over shortage of food, fuel and medicines may spell doom for them, who hail from Hambantota district in the southern province.
Added to their woes is the mass resignation of all 26 members of Sri Lanka's cabinet on April 3.
The only two remaining individuals in the cabinet are President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, the current prime minister and former president.
Sri Lanka's main opposition party on Friday asked the government to take effective action to resolve an economic crisis or face a no-confidence motion.
Even on Saturday, tens of thousands marched on his office, in the biggest protest to date over the country's dire economic and political crisis.
And pressure on the president intensified further as the country's powerful business community also began withdrawing support for the president. The president previously said that he will not quit.
The heavily import-reliant South Asian nation no longer has enough dollar reserves to buy essential items like food, fuel to power vehicles or even generate electricity.
People have been suffering power cuts of up to 13 hours, massive inflation and a shortage of food and basic goods.
Gotabaya and his brothers Chamal, Mahinda, and Basil are third-generation politicians, while the fourth generation is represented by Mahinda and Chamal's sons Namal, Yositha and Shashindra.
Let’s see how things unfolded over the years till the latest unrest.
1936: The first Rajapaksa entered the political scene to represent the Hambantota district in the State Council. The family was previously rural landholders and members even held feudal posts during the colonial era.
1947: The family established dominance in the district as two members were elected from two constituencies in the district. They were continuously elected to Sri Lanka’s political bodies from 1936 to 1977.
1989: The Rajapaksas came to national prominence after Mahinda and his brother Chamal were elected in the 1989 parliamentary election.
2005: Mahinda was elected president, immediately after which he appointed his brother Gotabaya as defence secretary and another brother Basil as senior presidential advisor.
2010: Mahinda won the election again to become president, while the other members of the Rajapaksa family also won their own bids at becoming elected. At the time, four of the six Rajapaksa brothers served in the government.
2015: The Rajapaksas and their political outfit, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party suffered a defeat at the hands of Maithripala Sirisena, who would become president, and Ranil Wickremesinghe, who would become the prime minister. Wickremesinghe initiated probing several graft charges during the reign of the Rajapaskas.
2019: Gotabaya emerged as the winner of the presidential. Under him, Mahinda was once more appointed as the prime minister of the country.
2022: Protesters demand that Gotabaya resign, with the latter removing his brother and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa over the deepening crisis.
