The 2022 aragalaya was led on the premise that the Rajapakse’s were responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. That “revolt” led by Cardinal & heads of the Church was responsible for tax payers coughing up Rs.1.22billion in damages to 43 politicians who had their homes, vehicles & property destroyed. This excludes the millions in damages to the Presidents House, Presidents Secretariat, Temple Trees, PM’s Office, Rupavahini/ITN some of the antiques that were stolen or damaged that are now beyond repair. The protestors who accused the Rajapakse’s of destroying the economy ended up footing millions to the poor tax payers for the trail of mayhem & destruction they were responsible for in 2022. Where is the accountability by those who were demanding accountability from others! Confounding matters is the NPP whose various fronts played a key role during the aragalaya admitting during their 2024 election campaign that the Rajapakse’s were not responsible for the 2022 economic crisis. Thus, the 2022 public protest eventually became a pusswedilla only to slap the tax payers pockets in 2024 for damages that included 10 deaths. Shouldn’t those who organized the 2022 aragalaya be held responsible instead of allowing them to start new mischief by rallying people to abolish the existing constitution.
It is no secret that the Cardinal was a key player during the 2022 aragalaya. Sisters of the Church were even kept throughout the nights at the Galle Face Green. This same Cardinal stood silent when Church fathers/bishops openly advocated separatism & aligned unashamedly with LTTE terrorists. This same Cardinal after casting his vote gave the signal who the Catholics should vote for in 2024. This same Cardinal has plucked out “maha molakaru” as a tactic while forgiving all the suicide bombers who committed mass murders. This same Cardinal shies from stating if he knew of the Easter Sunday attacks prior to the attacks which would question why he did not cancel the mass & prevent people entering the Churches as he himself decided to hold mass elsewhere! The same Cardinal is also reluctant to disclose how the funds sent to victims of Easter Sunday blasts were spent though not a penny has gone to non-Catholics who were also victim. Can such a Cardinal be allowed to moot a new campaign to change the nation’s constitution When Catholics are also ganging up against the Cardinal, what right does the Cardinal have to be calling to change the country’s Constitution? A constitution is not a garb to be changed with every new government propped to power with the support of the Cardinal!
All those who can recall the 2022 aragalaya will remember how social media was used to give addresses of politicians whose homes were earmarked to be attacked. Social media & mainstream media played a key role in this debacle. So-called Christian faith healers were providing “moral support” & after their “bana” was issuing threats unbecoming of their status quo.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AzmFDFD3G
Leaving aside the political parties & their fronts that took part in the 2022 aragalaya, what is noteworthy is the high profile personalities from top corporates, artists, sports stars & their spouses, academics, professionals, civil society heads, the Colombo elite coterie who were all enthusiastically party to the so-called “people’s protest” that was funded even by LTTE diaspora as they have openly admitted & jihadi groups as well as Sri Lankan expats who held their own protests in different parts of the world.
The exposure of USAID & their payments to various regime change initiatives worldwide should automatically raise questions as to who have been on the local payroll in Sri Lanka & what their role was in 2022.
The 2022 aragalaya was claimed a “people’s protest” that was well orchestrated, made to look “natural”, was heavily funded, had people “trained” to steer the protestors, people were ‘trained” to handle social media to arouse people’s emotions & sentiments, people were trained to drum up hate & vengeance to a level they would take to the streets, start violence and create the mayhem that was needed to oust a president from power & create anarchy. The eventual goal was to pressure Sri Lanka to accept IMF conditions & trap Sri Lanka to the US-India geopolitical nexus.
Yet only a handful of critical thinkers in Sri Lanka were able to identify fact from fiction. These were people who had a thorough understanding of how similar people’s revolts have taken place in other parts of the world and they were able to identify what was taking place & compare the situation to similar scenarios that took place in the colored revolutions globally.
The so-called “educated” Colombo coterie have always been on the wrong end of the stick & have always been the easy prey roped in for any anti-national programs. In fact, this Colombo coterie feel pride in being part of any anti-national movement and are happy to be rewarded for their anti-national roles. What took place in 2022 was a revolt that was led by these anti-national Colombo coterie & followed by a set of wannabe middle-class urban & sub-urbans who absorbed all the hate campaigns fed by social media simply because they lacked the intelligence & critical thinking skills to question the validity of allegations being made.
With the reality & the admission by the JVP big-wigs themselves that the Rajapakse’s were not responsible for the 2022 economic crisis, these “educated elite” have all gone suddenly mute! Let us not forget that it was this same coterie that campaigned wildly to bring the present regime to power as well. With the administration apparatus visibly crumbling before everyone’s eyes, we are all waiting to see what solutions these “elite” know-it-alls have to now offer.
Thus, we need to separate the protestors into different categories
- Those who were hired/paid/trained and given numerous roles to play throughout the 2022 aragalaya (these included social media activists, Cardinal /Church & other clergy, high profile personalities, sports stars & their spouses, artists, academics, well known civil society heads, key corporates who discretely provided funding, allowed staff to be present to create the numbers as well as hampered the supply chain of food & other essentials to create an artificial social unrest of their own making. Etc Key personalities that were tasked to provide the “glamour” and draw the ordinary to believe that they were all birds of a feather – Otara, Nanda Malini, Sangakkara & Yeheli, Mahela, Sanath Jayasuriya, Damitha Abeyratne, Duleeka M, Sangeetha Weeraratna, Corine Almedia, Sangeeth, Samanali Fonseka) The artists that promoted violence: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18BHKPfSXX/ (artists promoting violence) opinion of Sangeetha Weeraratna // Corine Almeida / Sangeeth https://www.facebook.com/share/p/182Z7rULNP/
Aragala activists Anjalee Wanduragala and Melani Gunathilaka https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HfWxHT884/ what are their views now when the bitter truth has come out!
2. Those who fell victim to the well-funded campaigns that were meant to lure people to Galle Face Green. These people felt genuine anger primarily because they believed the narratives fed to them via social media & other sources and they lacked the ability to question how far the narratives were true. This category of people unfortunately will continue to become prey to any future social media campaigns unless they improve their general knowledge & knowledge of political affairs not only in Sri Lanka but globally as well.
Be that as it may, the 2022 aragalaya resulted in people storming the Presidents Office, Presidents Secretariat, Temple Trees, Prime Ministers Office, Rupavahini/ITN & the colossal damage, theft, ruin caused has also been downplayed. Eventually, some of the artefacts could not be replaced while those that could ended up being paid for by the taxpayers – the very people who were protesting at wastage of public funds! How ironical!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii4x61b_-eE (inside Presidents pool)
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F92LfFmuP/ (presidents house gym)
The unruly manner that people were seen jumping on the white sheeted beds, sofas, bathing in bathrooms designated for foreign dignatories soon became publicized across the world & Sri Lankans laughed at for their uncouth behaviors.
10 deaths including the heinous murder of MP Athukorala & his security officer as well as Chairman A V Sarath Kumara & 1 policemen were ugly reminders of what took place in 2022.
In May 2024 the Chairman of the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association Gemunu Wijeratne claimed that no compensation has been given for the buses destroyed during the 2022 aragalaya. 50 buses had been completely destroyed & another 50 buses partially destroyed. 20 buses have been completely condemned (beyond repair) Shouldn’t those who took part in the aragalaya be made to pay for this instead of footing the bill to the taxpayers.
The Presidents House is over 200 years old. People stormed inside leaving a trail of destruction
- Damaged carpets
- Broken electrical fittings
- Broken television sets & other equipment
- Cutlery & crockery missing
- Beds, sofas, couches, washrooms & gym all damaged
- Invaluable paintings damaged
- Antiques, cultural artefacts damaged – some missing
- Railings damaged
- Colonial red carpet damaged & beyond repair
Prime Ministers Official Residence Temple Trees was a British colonial era-building. It too was damaged & items stolen.
The carpets at Presidents Office & Temple Trees were similarly beyond repair.
The chairs belonging to Dutch period & plates & cutlery were either broken or stolen while graffiti were drawn on the walls.
Furniture like vases & other souvenirs were either stolen or broken.
The Presidents House was where Queen Elizabeth stayed during her royal visit to then Ceylon in 1954. Today, the only memory of the building is the unruly mobs that broke into it vandalizing everything of value inside it.
The Cardinal, the aragalaya protestors ignore the cost of the repairs to the Presidents House a whooping Rs.364.8million in public funds. This excludes the damage to furniture, historic paintings, gym & equipment & vehicles.
Whatever justifications the protestors may give – the damage they caused is being footed not by them but by the usual victim – the tax payer.
The protestors damaged
- Buildings
- Public property & private property
- State institutions
- State vehicles & private vehicles
- Public infrastructure.
- Indirectly the protests prevented tourism arrivals across the months that protests prevailed (this was a huge loss to the nation’s revenue another loss was the manner expats were discouraged from remittances to their families back home which was another blow to the revenue)
The overall damage to the Presidents House & cost of repairs could range between $10m to $20m (Rs.7.2bilion)
The overall damage to the Presidents Secretariat that included damage to historical & symbolic objects, computers, filing systems is also placed at between $5m to $10m (Rs.3.6b)
THE OVERALL DAMAGE & COST TO TEMPLE TREES THAT INCLUDED VANDALISM OF BOTH INTERIOR & EXTERIOR, DAMAGE TO FURNITURE, OFFICE EQUIPMENT & PERSONAL BELONGINGS, WINDOWS, DOORS, FURNISHINGS IS SAID TO BE A FURTHER RS.1.8BILLION
The damage to the Prime Ministers office is also said to be Rs.720million.
The damage to Rupavahini/ITN broadcasting equipment trasmitters, computers television sets & other technical tools is said to cost Rs.360m
Now a whooping Rs.1.22billion is charged to the tax payer for the damages caused to 43 MPs whose homes property vehicles were mercilessly attacked & destroyed.
When calls for a new constitution is promoted by separatist fronts – all citizens should be concerned about the larger plan!
Ultimately the outcome of the 2022 aragalaya was to entrap Sri Lanka to the IMF, to be at the mercy of India for the credit lines given, to agree to siphon away Sri Lanka’s assets & resources & sign detrimental agreements that are of no concern for those who took to the streets because it is unlikely any of them would come forward to defend the sovereignty & territorial integrity of Sri Lanka though they all happily took part in causing a trail of mayhem that has only resulted in the taxpayers having to pay billions in damages & compensation.
The Cardinal & Team who were integral players in 2022 have shouldered no responsibility now that the tax payers have to pay for the damages & instead he has commenced another project by now calling for the abolishing of the nation’s constitution to a government that cannot even solve the coconut, salt, rice problems in Sri Lanka. What is the Cardinals real objective in calling to change Sri Lanka’s Constitution?
A country’s constitution is not something that can be changed seasonally & to the whims & fancies of people’s political aspirations simply because it doesn’t gel with the agendas or objectives tasked to them.
The general public must all stand against this new call.
The people have given a mandate to the government not to be complaining about previous governments but to bring practical solutions to existing problems – not to create new problems out of non-existing ones.
The people will support the government so long as it does right by the Nation & the People.
Shenali D Waduge