{"id":77929,"date":"2022-06-09T00:27:36","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T04:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77929"},"modified":"2022-06-09T15:40:56","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T19:40:56","slug":"basil-rajapaksa-resigns-as-member-of-parliament-the-ex-finance-minister-retires-from-governance-but-will-continue-to-play-an-active-role-in-politics-as-slpp-national-organizer-i-think-w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77929","title":{"rendered":"Basil Rajapaksa Resigns as Member of Parliament: The Ex-Finance Minister Retires from Governance, but will continue to play an active role in politics as SLPP National Organizer. \u201cI think we can see that our family is better at politics than at governance.\u201d Says BR"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Cash-strapped Sri Lanka\u2019s former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa vacated his parliamentary seat on Thursday (09) downplaying his role in the country\u2019s worst ever forex crisis, without ruling out a comeback, and likening the Rajapaksa family to India\u2019s RSS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exactly one month after his older brother and then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned against a backdrop of bloody violence, the younger Rajapaksa announced his departure from the legislature Thursday morning at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) headquarters where he fielded questions from reporters eager to press him on his part in the ongoing calamity.<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa appeared to be in a beaten-but-not-defeated mood as he attempted to use humour to deflect questions about his responsibility and, at one point, even seemed to shift the blame to the very people who had voted for his party, the SLPP.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m not passing the buck to the people. But yes, they do hold some responsibility for electing us to power. If, as you say, we passed the buck, then those who gave us the buck in the first place are also responsible,\u201d said Rajapaksa, quickly recovering from a question that had visibly agitated him<\/p>\n

It was the one moment in the hour-long press briefing in which he lost his cool.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The former finance minister\u2019s ouster was one of the key demands of Sri Lanka\u2019s protesting public. Among the anti-government slogans shouted at protests islandwide was the earworm \u201cKaputu kaak, kaak, kaak\u201d followed by a chorus of \u201cBasil, Basil, Basil, Basil.\u201d The somewhat elitist meme originated from a video in which Rajapaksa was heard using the Sinhala word for crows, \u201ckaputas\u201d, in the plural form, at a discussion held in English, for which he was relentlessly mocked on social media.<\/p>\n

Asked to comment on his \u201cnew brand\u201d, Rajapaksa claimed that he had made the singsong protest slogan his phone\u2019s ringtone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s not a bad animal, really. I hold no grudge against any being. I do not seek vengeance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my ringtone now. The phone goes \u2018Basil Basil\u2019 when it rings.
\n\u201cThe first bit is played back at a lower volume,\u201d he added with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

On more serious matters, Rajapaksa was no less facetious. When questioned about the erosion of Rajapaksa popularity, he said: \u201cI think we can see that our family is better at politics than at governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former minister and architect of the SLPP said that there are such cases globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndia\u2019s RSS has been around for years, but they do not govern directly. The BJP has taken on that role,\u201d he said.
\nHowever, he does not foresee an immediate end to the Rajapaksa dynasty.<\/p>\n

\u201cSri Lankans elected a Rajapaksa president three times: twice with Mahinda Rajapaksa, and once with Gotabaya Rajapaksa,\u201d he said.
\nAs for his own plans, the youngest Rajapaksa sibling said though he has retired from governance, he will continue to play an active role in politics. His resignation from the SLPP\u2019s national list slot, he said, was for someone the party deems suitable to take his place.<\/p>\n

Speculation has been rife that that someone will be businessman Dhammika Perera. Rajapaksa\u2019s answers to questions about Perera\u2019s entry to active politics were vague, at best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about that. That is a decision that\u2019s up to the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he did say later on that if Perera wishes to implement some of the plans he had proposed for the country, there is no reason he should not be given an opportunity to do so. The same is true, he said, for anyone from the \u2018aragalaya\u2019, Sri Lanka\u2019s youth-led protest movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI invite anyone from the Aragalaya to take my place,\u201d he said.
\nRegarding the economic crisis and the immense hardships imposed on the public, apart from a hurried \u201capology\u201d at the end of the press briefing for any mistakes made during his tenure as Finance Minister, there was no heart-rending mea culpa from the former MP.
\nHe brushed aside any suggestion from the journalists present that he and the Rajapaksa administration had been the authors of the agony the people were now feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no longer finance minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 1951, this country has been run the same way, on debt. No government has tried to change this. After my appointment, I tried to some extent enable the people to stand on their own feet.
\n\u201cIt may or may not have worked, but if there is something this country is getting now [in terms of financing], it is only what I was able to secure as finance minister,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pressed for more honesty, Rajapaksa claimed the crisis was already there when he came on board as finance minister. He forcefully rejected suggestions by journalists that his government was responsible for the erosion of Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign reserves which had stood at seven billion US dollars in late 2019 when his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no seven billion dollars when I came on. I do not accept that reserves went down to zero under me. There were no reserves when I was appointed,\u201d he said, adding that fertilizer and other essentials were being purchased today with loans that he had helped secure.<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa said the government had been divided on approaching the IMF for assistance, and that reconciliation between two pro and anti-IMF camps had to be achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sent the first letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was after that that two IMF officials came and met me and President Rajapaksa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

President Rajapaksa had earlier said in a televised address to the nation that it was a mistake to not go to the IMF. Former Finance Minister Rajapaksa, however, in some apparent revisionism said that the president had in fact said the IMF should\u2019ve assisted Sri Lanka sooner.<\/p>\n

There has been speculation that the proposed 21st amendment to Sri Lanka\u2019s constitution is being delayed due to machinations by Basil Rajapaksa against a provision to ban dual citizens from entering parliament. Rajapaksa is a US citizen and visits that country regularly. Some former influential government ministers who now function as independent MPs in parliament famously called him the \u201cUgly American\u201d and accused him of carrying out a US agenda, a claim which Rajapaksa rejects.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally I\u2019m opposed to the 21st amendment,\u201d he said, but added quickly that it was not due to personal reasons.
\nA constitution must serve the public interest, he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t take the power given by 6.9 million voters to one leader and confer that on someone who only managed over 250,000 votes,\u201d he said, referring to Sri Lanka\u2019s newly sworn in Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely support certain aspects of the 21st amendment, such as the provisions on independent commissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if the amendment will pass,\u201d he said, adding however that decentralisation of power to benefit the public is important.
\nIf the executive presidency is to be abolished, Rajapaksa said, Sri Lana\u2019s provincial council system \u2013 a legacy of the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord \u2013 must be reformed in the interest of maintaining the island nation\u2019s sovereignty and unitary character.<\/p>\n

Though he would personally have voted against it, he said, the decision to vote for the amendment or not remains with the party, which he says he will continue to work with.<\/p>\n

Basil Rajapaksa leaves parliament, which he entered as an unelected MP via the national list, with Sri Lanka\u2019s economy freefalling around the hapless and increasingly desperate citizenry.
\nHe, however, believes he did his best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I did [do something] to the best of my ability. But I couldn\u2019t do everything the people had expected,\u201d he said.
\nAsked if his resignation was a permanent one, Rajapaksa said: \u201cIf the people decide so, perhaps; but if they want me back, I\u2019m ready for that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s going to be even more difficult going forward. We must all work together. We\u2019re ready to extend any help to the present administration and whoever may be coming next,\u201d the former minister said.<\/p>\n

He expressed hope that global conditions will also improve, facilitating Sri Lanka\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the Ukraine crisis is resolved and tourism will pick up again.<\/p>\n

As he stood up to leave the briefing he said: \u201cI would also like to express my sincere apologies to the people if there were any mistakes made.\u201d
\n
\nCourtesy:Economy Next<\/em><\/p>\n

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Cash-strapped Sri Lanka\u2019s former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa vacated his parliamentary seat on Thursday (09) downplaying his role in the country\u2019s worst ever forex crisis, without ruling out a comeback, and likening the Rajapaksa family to India\u2019s RSS. Exactly one month after his older brother and then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned against a backdrop …<\/p>\n

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