“Mahinda Sulanga”, “Maha Jana Handa” and Nugegoda mass rallies

The announced strategy and modus operandi of the Opposition campaign has evoked a sense of déjà vu.

- By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Apart from the similarity of venue, the Nugegoda rallies of Mahinda Sulanga and Mahaa Jana Handa are totally different

Comparisons are being drawn between the envisaged “Mahaa Jana Handa” Nugegoda rally on 21 November 2025 and the “Mahinda Sulanga” Nugegoda rally of 18 February 2015. It is even being said that the “Mahinda Sulanga (Mahinda Wind) rally is the inspiration for the current Opposition in launching the “Mahaa Jana Handa” campaign.

It may be recalled that Mahinda Rajapaksa who had been president from 2005 November onwards was defeated by the common Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena at the 2015 January Presidential elections. The politically vanquished Mahinda fought back defiantly to regain lost ground. A political rally was held in Nugegoda a month after the Presidential election. The rally titled “Mahinda Sulanga” was well-attended.

Thereafter a series of “Mahinda Sulanga” meetings were held in different parts of the Island. These rallies mobilised mass support for Mahinda and brought about a Rajapaksa renaissance in politics. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna was launched in November 2016. The SLPP won the majority of Local authorities in the February 2018 Local government elections. The SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the November 2019 Presidential elections. The SLPP romped home the winner in the August 2020 Parliamentary elections.

Since the venue of both the Mahinda Sulanga and Mahaa Jana Handa rallies is Nugegoda there is an “inaugural” similarity. Also the current joint Opposition plans to follow up Nugegoda with more rallies elsewhere just as what had happened after the Mahinda Sulanga rally. However attempts to strike up a parallel between both could turn out to be a superficial analogy.