It was on this day, 9 April exactly one year ago, that ordinary people who had had enough with lengthening power cuts, fuel queues, food shortages, and the rising cost of living decided to combine their protests at street corners at Galle Face, ultimately heralding a peaceful people’s revolution.
Well, at least that was what most of us were made to believe up until now. One year on, things suddenly no longer appear to be what they seemed all this time, with various political entities pointing the finger at a ‘mysterious third force’ that allegedly not only orchestrated the protests but also ultimately benefited from it politically, notwithstanding the genuine actions of a few political actors in seeking genuine ‘system change,’ an attempt that has now fallen by the wayside.
The allegation of a conspiracy has been hovering in the air for some time, ever since the current President, immediately upon his appointment through a parliamentary vote, ordered the security forces to crack down on the protests. Until then, he had encouraged the protests in both word and deed by even appointing various committees to inquire into and provide necessary facilities for protesters when he was appointed Prime Minister on 12 May 2022. In fact, when pointedly asked by the media whether the protests should continue at the time, his answer was a straightforward yes.
Therefore, the sudden U-turn upon securing the presidency certainly raised a few eyebrows among the political fraternity, but no one really bothered to look deeper as the dire economic situation and revival of the economy took precedence over all else. Not missing a beat, the new President managed to keep the economy at the forefront by continuously harping on the ‘extremely difficult days ahead’ by addressing the nation regularly.
But with the IMF bailout now in the bag and things beginning to look up, the presumptive heir of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) leadership – nephew of the deposed President and son of the deposed Prime Minister of one year ago – has decided to come out into the open with the allegation of a conspiracy. He is now alleging that an ‘unseen third force’ was behind the entire episode, a claim that has received wide publicity in the mainstream media.
Interestingly enough, almost out of the blue, the entirety of the SLPP parliamentary representation seems to have come to the same conclusion and is quite vocal in echoing the sentiments of the young MP, no doubt setting the cat among the pigeons.
When the original people’s protest took root opposite the entrance to the Presidential Secretariat on 9 April 2022 – the office of then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa – the authorities did not take it too seriously, given that it was just three days before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and the general assumption was that it would fizzle out in a day or two. But despite a heavy downpour and a thunderstorm around midnight that night, the protest continued to grow hour after hour for the next three months, climaxing in an estimated million marching up to the President’s House on 9 July 2022, which resulted in the then President having to flee the country.
In the same vein, it appears that ignoring the ‘conspiracy theory’ at this embryonic stage could also potentially snowball into yet another political storm, given the nation’s predisposition towards anything conspiratory, a subject the likes of which the Weerawansas of this world have turned into a fine art with overwhelming political effect.
Even if one were to dismiss the SLPP MP’s allegation as wild, without basis, or mere conjecture, the systematic manner in which the Executive has been attempting to gag the public in recent times, to the extent that even calling a crook a crook is tantamount to being on the wrong side of the law, has made people sit up and think twice whether the proposed draconian new legislation in the form of the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill and the draft Anti-Corruption Bill are in fact an attempt to mitigate a fallout from just such a scenario.
Be that as it may, what cannot be denied is that the people’s protests of one year ago were real and genuine to the extent that even the snobbish Colombo 7 crowd did not mind rubbing shoulders with the Bandas of Mahiyanganaya and vice versa at Galle Face, motivated by the common desire to ring in change. That it was hijacked by vested interests towards the latter end is now a foregone conclusion. So if the conspiracy theory is to be taken at face value, what merits probing is where exactly the alleged conspiracy begins and ends. Whether, in fact, the causes that led to the crisis – such as the slashing of tax revenue, banning of fertiliser, or refusal to go to the IMF – in turn led to the protests or whether it pertains to the latter hijacking.
That said, at the end of the day, politics is all about the art of the possible. To seize an opportunity which others did not see through is therefore not only smart but also worthy of a pat on the back. But if, in fact, the entire saga was carried out by using innocent and apolitical people, whose only desire was seeing corruption-free governance in this country, as pawns in a grand game of chess, then that certainly warrants probing. But in a political set-up where those at the helm and those in waiting are wont to scratch each other’s backs for political survival, ably assisted by a majority of MPs with a similar predisposition, chances are the intended storm will turn out to be just another passing shower.
To further highlight this pitiful state of affairs, with today being Easter Sunday, four such Sundays have come and gone since that fateful day in 2019. However, despite promises from those at the helm of affairs to get to the bottom of what really appears to be an actual conspiracy, all that the nation has got in terms of a proper investigation are broken promises.
What those politicians currently sitting at the grand political chess board must understand is that, conspiracy or no conspiracy, the great majority of the people that formed the groundbreaking protest of one year ago were apolitical and simply driven by the common urge to change the system that drove this nation to bankruptcy. One year down the line, what they have got in that regard is sweet nothing, other than an array of draconian draft legislation designed to prevent a mass protest of that scale from ever happening again. Whether such a strategy will be successful in keeping a people that have already tasted the fruits of mass mobilisation, only time will tell.