The rise and decimation of LTTE and its connection with the Rajpaksas of Sri Lanka
Holed up in a hospital bed ages ago, I started a book which spoke about the human loss in the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka…the book got me hooked and the first thought in my mind was…
Damm..there was a civil war going on for more than 3 decades with our immediate neighbour and we literally had no clue..all we knew was that LTTE was involved in the assassination of our ex PM — Rajiv Gandhi…we began with the assassination and ended with the same..
So I ordered 4 books to understand in-depth about what really happened there…
A few surprising finds -
LTTE was the first guerrilla organization in the world to have an air force of their own..
It was in this civil war that LTTE first invented the concept of human suicide bombers — not the Islamic terrorists that we think..
Also that was the first time I had heard of the Rajpaksa name — the name which is now infamous for collapsing the Sri Lankan economy…
So here is my podcast on the linkage between the Rajpaksas of Sri Lanka and their rise to power on the back of the LTTE…
P.S. This podcast mostly covers the civil war…it is only towards the end that the Rajpaksas come into the picture, but this will give you a good idea as to how they rose to power and the current economic situation has its roots in the struggle..
