Episode 23 - The Return of the Rajapaksas

India Rising

India Rising: Strategic Affairs Conversations with Mohal and Kishor @mohaljoshi @veggiediplomat The Rajapaksas are back in style in Sri Lanka. While the younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the Presidential election winning handsomely against Sajith Premadasa, the elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa is now the caretaker Prime Minister until the next Parliamentary elections after the incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe resigned after the loss in the Presidential elections. We try to find the answers to the following questions: • Was the victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the recently concluded Presidential Elections in Sri Lanka a foregone conclusion? • With the younger brother as the President, is the elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid to unquestioned political supremacy in the island nation unchecked? • Is there a possible danger of the island getting entangled in Sinhala nationalism? • What happens to the goodwill projects carried out by India to help Sri Lankan Tamils to rebuild after the bloody civil war? • Will the Indian fishermen be targeted and killed for crossing into Sri Lankan waters just like how they were during the previous Rajapaksa regime? • More importantly, was Delhi prepared for a Rajapaksa return? • Does Delhi have a gameplan to keep the Rajapaksas on a leash without conceding too much to Beijing? • In the wake of the deadly Easter bombings, will there be greater security cooperation between Delhi and Colombo? • What does the speed at which India dispatched its Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar to Colombo to invite Rajapaksa to New Delhi indicate? • With Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe resigning as Prime Minister, will Sri Lanka see the top 2 posts in the country being run by 2 brothers? Cover tune: Hand In Hand by Nicolai Heidlas | https://www.nicolai-heidlas.com Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/