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A forgotten promise
The Island
|September 16, 2025
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa may be blamed for many things, but his political resilience is remarkable.
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His biggest achievement is generally thought to be providing political leadership for defeating the LTTE, but it is something else—frustrating President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's efforts to prevent him from running for President in 2005 as the candidate of the SLFP-led UPFA.
He made a stunning comeback after his defeat in the 2015 presidential race. His counterattack against the UNP-led Yahapalana government was dubbed Mahinda Sulanga ('Mahinda Wind'). Having regained power, he ruined things for himself big-time. The rest is history.
Mahinda has said, after leaving his Wijerama official residence, that there is the possibility of another Mahinda Sulanga or 'some other sulanga' emerging. His claim has set the cat among the pigeons; the NPP stalwarts and their propagandists have seen red. They are of the view that he has hinted at an anti-government campaign to be launched by his son, Namal.
They have gone to the extent of claiming that Namal will never be able to win a presidential election.
This story is from the September 16, 2025 edition of The Island.
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