By

Taylor Dibbert

Well-known Sri Lankan Political analyst and journalist Kusal Perera has written a book about former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa titled “Rajapaksa”. Freelance Journalist Taylor Dibbert Interviews the author about “Rajapaksa” and related matters.

Excerpts-

Question: Your book “Rajapaksa” will be released soon. Would you tell us a bit about it?

Answer;

Well, it runs through our [Sri Lanka’s] political history with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the main character. The reason to have him so, is because I thought he is the most appropriate political figure to be sketched in an effort to trace the growth of Sinhala nationalism – by now the major deciding factor in mainstream politics that has evolved not simply as “Sinhala” but as “Sinhala-Buddhist.” This book is an effort, in a way, to understand how Rajapaksa evolved politically as the major attraction of the present-day Sinhala-Buddhist constituency. What is often seen in Rajapaksa is his popular image on public platforms, but that’s not Rajapaksa as a whole. This book, therefore, is an unraveling of Rajapaksa.

Q; How long did it take to write? Do you have a writing routine?

A;

I first sat to write this after the [civil] war was declared over in May 2009. How it got dragged this long is because, I simply don’t have a writing routine. It had been so even with my other books as I don’t think I am an author. I am a political critic and journalist. Meanwhile, Rajapaksa himself was growing politically larger than life on a Sinhala-Buddhist canvas, that kept me going back and forth, trying to understand how different he is from other Sinhala leaders. Eventually, after his defeat at the 2015 January presidential elections that I predicted after the Uva Provincial Council elections in September 2014, I thought it’s time I finished writing the book. So, this book finally comes out after about eight years.

Q;Why did you decide to write this book?

A;

No one can dispute this fact: Rajapaksa is the most popular Sinhala-Buddhist leader in post-independence Sri Lanka. He was also a very close political associate of mine as a human rights campaigner and as a budding politician in the [Sri Lanka Freedom Party] SLFP, even before his reentry into parliament in 1989. I, therefore, have a good understanding of his personality. So, I thought, why not put him under a magnifying lens and see how different he is from other Sinhala-Buddhist leaders?

Q;Do you have any literary influences?

A;
Maybe I have. I think most do get influenced by writers whose books one opts to read often, but without knowing one gets influenced. As for me, my favorite genre is biographies and autobiographies. Not that I don’t read fiction. I do. But have writers like García Márquez, Rushdie, or even those like Khaled Hosseini, Zadie Smith influenced me? I wouldn’t know.

Q;What do you read for fun?

A;

Ha ha! What do I read for fun? What politicians say on things they don’t know. That’s real fun. Try it. Start with Donald Trump.

Q;What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

A;

What other than “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”? I don’t think there could be any other for a long time. Well, Arundhati Roy is one of my most loved writers. Her writings, I rarely miss – even her public conversations on YouTube.

Courtesy:Huffington Post