Fleeing, quitting: The Hindu Editorial on Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has resigned eventually, however not earlier than maintaining the nation guessing for 2 days. In a not-unexpected flip of occasions, the beleaguered govt head of Sri Lanka fled by an Air Drive airplane, reached the Maldives and thereafter went to Singapore, presumably on his method to one other nation. Evidently hedging towards the opportunity of being turned again by any of those international locations, he didn’t submit his resignation on July 13 as promised. As he despatched in his resignation Thursday night, it was clear he was holding out in order that he wouldn’t lose his presidential immunity from prosecution till he reached secure haven. Given the widespread wrath towards him, being in Colombo with out the defend of workplace was not an choice for him. As a substitute, he appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discharge the President’s capabilities in his absence, utilizing a provision within the Structure which permits such an association if the incumbent has to depart the nation or is in any other case unable to carry out his duties. Mr. Wickremesinghe is now unlikely to reply to requires his resignation, because the nation’s Structure supplies that the present Prime Minister shall act as President till a brand new one is elected. Whereas the legislature is to be convened quickly for formally electing a brand new President, there are questions over whether or not the mass rebellion will abate, as its protagonists have been asking for Mr. Wickremesinghe’s resignation too, seeing him as equally discredited. It’s maybe in anticipation of an intensification of the protest that Mr. Wickremesinghe has requested the navy to do no matter is required to revive order. However order will not be born of bloodshed; confrontation have to be prevented, and efforts made to heed the calls for of the folks.

The world has been amazed by the unprecedented show of righteous anger and braveness by the residents of Sri Lanka, as they channelled the widespread fury towards the devastation brought on by the financial disaster on their day-to-day existence. As civil society got here collectively, it’s apt to see this as a revolutionary second by which an avaricious and apathetic political class has been humbled by folks united by struggling. Whereas exterior observers see this as a second of reality for authoritarian leaders, power-hungry politicians and their ilk, it stays to be seen if political leaders in Sri Lanka themselves have drawn any lesson from it. Stories counsel that jockeying for energy is occurring on one facet whilst photographs of protesters overwhelming places of work and residences related to the rulers are going viral. Sri Lankans could count on {that a} change of regime will imply a brand new order that will usher in constitutional adjustments, coverage reforms and reverse the development of public curiosity being sacrificed for political ends. The following President ought to recognise this reputable aspiration and chorus from any try to keep up the established order, cowl up the misdeeds that led the nation to the present disaster or protect the ill-gotten features of workplace.