{"id":236182,"date":"2024-03-21T07:16:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T01:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=236182"},"modified":"2024-03-31T20:53:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T15:23:37","slug":"books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Books &#038; Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>By <a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Asanga+Abeyagoonasekera\">Asanga Abeyagoonasekera<\/a> &#8211;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_73904\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73904\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-73904\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Asanga-Abeyagoonasekera1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Asanga-Abeyagoonasekera1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Asanga-Abeyagoonasekera1-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-73904\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Asanga Abeygoonasekera<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p3\">Gotabaya Rajapaksa has well explained his own tragedy where the protagonist comprehends his insignificance. To comprehend a self-diagnosis with an insignificance is neither an act of cowardice but the opposite; this value of Gotabaya\u2019s self-diagnosis must be appreciated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Bombs directly impact election results in South Asia, as discussed in my book \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldscientific.com\/worldscibooks\/10.1142\/12028#t=aboutBook\"><span class=\"s1\">Conundrum of an Island<\/span><\/a>\u2019<\/span>. The last major bomb attack in Sri Lanka, the <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Easter+Sunday\"><span class=\"s1\">Easter Sunday Terror attack<\/span><\/a><\/span>, certainly altered the voter path towards restoring National Security upon the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Just like bombs, Do books have a profound effect on elections? In South Asia, the newly released book \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/india\/ram-lakshman-hanuman-jaishankar-elucidates-why-his-book-has-references-to-ramayana\/articleshow\/106524103.cms?from=mdr\"><span class=\"s1\">Why Bharat Matters<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u201d written by the Indian Foreign Minister Dr.Subramaniam Jaishankar and \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/frontline.thehindu.com\/world-affairs\/former-sri-lanka-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-claims-foreign-conspiracy-ousted-him-in-2022\/article67920991.ece\"><span class=\"s1\">The Conspiracy<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u201d by Sri Lankan former president <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Gotabaya+Rajapaksa\">Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span> appear to be an attempt in this direction targeting the elections. Both books are different in context but nudge the same ultra-nationalistic element. Jaishankar\u2019s book propagates \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/the-economist-explains\/2024\/03\/07\/what-is-hindutva-the-ideology-of-indias-ruling-party\"><span class=\"s1\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Hindutva<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u2019 and Indian nationalism, finding roots in Indian foreign policy connecting with the Indian mythology of Ramayana; Gotabaya\u2019s book appeals to the sentiment of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism to lodge his claim an external foreign conspiracy ousted him. According to Gotabaya, \u2018<i>my departure has left Sinhalese and particularly Sinhalese Buddhists are being taken for granted, ignored, sidelined, downtrodden and humiliated by various foreign and local parties.<\/i>\u2019 He articulates that his loss was the nation&#8217;s Buddhist society&#8217;s loss. The same narrative was captured during an interview by this author last month in Colombo from a Sinhalese Buddhist ultra-nationalist warning: \u201c<i>We will soon become an Indian colony<\/i>\u201d. For South Asia, ultra-nationalism has generally paved the way for electoral victories, and perhaps the ultra-nationalist toolkit impacting five factors (see table) is sufficient to elect the next leader in India and Sri Lanka, overshadowing economic woes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_236184\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-236184\" class=\"size-full wp-image-236184\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Five-Factors-highlighted-in-The-Conspiracy-and-Why-Bharath-Matters-targeting-elections.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Five-Factors-highlighted-in-The-Conspiracy-and-Why-Bharath-Matters-targeting-elections.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Five-Factors-highlighted-in-The-Conspiracy-and-Why-Bharath-Matters-targeting-elections-300x128.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Five-Factors-highlighted-in-The-Conspiracy-and-Why-Bharath-Matters-targeting-elections-768x327.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-236184\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Table: Five Factors highlighted in The Conspiracy and Why Bharath Matters targeting elections<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>Regime Change and the US Factor<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-236187\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/letter-from-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/letter-from-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/letter-from-Ranil-Wickremesinghe-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/>Fourteen days before the Presidential election victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on 4<span class=\"s2\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span> November 2019, I received a letter from Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s office (PMO\/1\/R\/Misc-2019) through the Ministry of Defence, dating 30<span class=\"s2\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span> October 2019, with a note from the Sri Lankan Secretary of Defence on possible national security threat for a regime change in Sri Lanka involving an external country. The dispatch clearly stated that the secretary required immediate attention to the subject and its attached material, consisting of hundreds of pages. With its one-track agenda, the syndicate sent the same material to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, possibly on the same day. The material was one disk with multiple files, and it was well-documented on the \u2018Neoliberal agenda on Regime change\u2019 or the Color Revolution from institutes such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). A thorough research on the entire disk was conducted at the National Security think tank (INSS), where I was heading as the Director General. This was possibly my last national security analysis and briefing before the immediate takeover by the Admiral Professor. Jayanath Collombage, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s advisor and foreign secretary, became acting Director General of the institute. After evaluating the lengthy content, I reported to the Secretary of Defence that most of it was fiction and closer to a Hollywood movie, although effective due to the well-presented documentation in a research format. There was no need for regime change at the tail end of Gotabaya\u2019s presidential race. However, one could even speculate that Prime Minister Wickremasinghe lodged the \u2018Regime Change\u2019 before his term ended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Fast-forward to the present day, there are three books in this regard, one of which is a well-crafted political strategy to establish and solidify the theory of \u2018regime change\u2019 carried out by the US and India. Today, it&#8217;s used to save the standing and reputation of an ousted Sri Lankan president, and I am sure it\u2019s considerably sufficient to achieve his objective of arousing the sentiments of the ultra-nationalists in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>Three books on neoliberal \u2018Regime Change\u2019 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Former President <span class=\"s1\">Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s new book \u2018Conspiracy<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/sri-lanka-ex-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-turns-author-defends-his-discredited-regime\/article67924097.ece\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2019<\/span><\/a>, blaming his removal on a section of the international community, \u201cinternationally sponsored regime change\u201d, matches the dispatch I received in 2019. It is usual practice by popular autocrats to blame the work of the academic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Power-Struggle-Politics-Nonviolent-Action\/dp\/087558070X\"><span class=\"s1\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Gene Sharp\u2019s \u2018Theory of nonviolent resistance<\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/a>, viewed as a CIA tactical operation for regime change. Before Gotabaya\u2019s book, there were two other similar narratives on Sri Lanka\u2019s uprising, depicted as a neoliberal conspiracy by the West, individually targeting US and Indian Intelligence services. The first book was by Asoka Bandarage\u2019s \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Crisis-Sri-Lanka-World-Alternatives\/dp\/3111356035\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YT8G0ZH8HK6X&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mSMUryPJEKPQDHtEf21eMQ.VezJF_Z8h3nds7E77a8CtdSjMDY21g_Mr_rrKzzOQyU&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=Asoka+Bandarage%25E2%2580%2599s+%25E2%2580%2598Crisis+in+Sri+Lanka+and+the+World%25E2%2580%2599&amp;qid=1709928375&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=asoka+bandarage+s+crisis+in+sri+lanka+and+the+world+,stripbooks,98&amp;sr=1-1\"><span class=\"s1\">Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u2019. This book is well-crafted and full of conjectures. Asoka makes multiple references to the subject and states, \u2018It is also interesting to note that the US Under Secretary for State, Victoria Nuland, known as the mastermind of the regime change in Ukraine in 2014, was in Sri Lanka in March 2022 during the protests to bring down the Rajapaksa regime\u2019, thus letting the imagination of the reader run riot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Further, the book points out that US establishments such as NED and individuals such as the US Ambassador Julie Chung were part of the regime change conspiracy. With the initial academic conspiracy theory, this book influenced the <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.lk\/2023\/04\/19\/wimal-to-launch-nine-the-hidden-story\/\"><span class=\"s3\">second book \u201cNine; The Hidden Story\u201d by a Parliamentarian in Sri Lanka<\/span><\/a><\/span>, Wimal Weerawansa, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.lk\/2023\/10\/12\/wimal-to-launch-russian-language-publication-of-his-aragalaya-book\/\"><span class=\"s1\">now even translated into Russian<\/span><\/a><\/span>. Some of Asoka&#8217;s work was borrowed by Wimal Weerawansa, who crafted a politically hyped-up fiction, integrating the concocted academic jargon from the first book. The third book by Gotabaya is in the same direction, seeing his dismissal as a targeted conspiracy by the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>Patriot vs Traitor <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">In Sri Lanka\u2019s political history, Gotabaya was the first Sri Lankan president to have prior dual citizenship. He has attempted to fast-track to <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adaderana.lk\/news.php?nid=58876\"><span class=\"s1\">renounce his US citizenship through his attorney, Ali Sabri<\/span><\/a><\/span>, who became the Foreign Minister. At that time of the presidential race, the US gambled on Gotabaya\u2019s commitment and support towards US policy. What materialised was something unexpected as his trusted advisors wanted \u201can equidistant policy\u201d with all the big powers, thus a tilt in the foreign policy towards China, a setback and if not a betrayal to the US and India. Gotabaya\u2019s China tilt was captured with considerable research evidence in my book \u2018<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/in\/teardrop-diplomacy-9789356401174\/\"><span class=\"s3\">The Teardrop Diplomacy(2023)<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u2019; however, the considered view was that the protest resulting in the virtual deposition commenced with an organic citizen-led movement with no sign of an external regime change. There are no hard facts to prove the external regime change factor. The unpopular domestic policies and decision-making impacting the economy and people\u2019s daily lives motivated the protests, and the majority of protesters were \u201cSinhala Buddhists\u201d who voted him into office with much expectation. Therefore, his wooing that part of the society in his book is very ironic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Gotabaya is pitching this book months before the next presidential race to lodge the idea to his perceived voter base, the Sinhalese Buddhists. The Rajapaksa family has a clear track record in winning the majoritarian ultra-nationalist voter base by creating the \u2018external interference\u2019 of a \u2018national security\u2019 threat narrative during prior elections. What stands against them is the newly found momentum of the youth and a section of the middle-aged rejecting the old guard. Meanwhile, another Rajapaksa brother, Basil Rajapaksa, a US citizen, has returned from the US to strategise the campaign with the present government. Basil <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/print\/front-page\/Havent-read-Gotas-book-not-even-willing-to-Basil\/238-279206\"><span class=\"s3\">detaches himself<\/span><\/a><\/span> from the book; overall, the credibility of marketing a regime change conspiracy will have less political currency due to the magnitude of domestic political blunders. The danger is that the fictitious propaganda will further polarise society into choosing patriots who would protect the motherland and traitors who would stand against them based on the ethnicity and religion of the individual. Again, a narrative familiar to Rajapaksa rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><i>*<\/i><b><i>Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is the Executive Director of the South Asia Foresight Network (SAFN) in Washington DC. @AsangaAbey<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":236084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Books &amp; Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Books &amp; Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-21T01:46:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-31T15:23:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/\",\"name\":\"Books & Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-21T01:46:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-31T15:23:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a955d5e371ccbaf5a42dda70a9c11310\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":629},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Books &#038; Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a955d5e371ccbaf5a42dda70a9c11310\",\"name\":\"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80753fc24499e267f3819229506185fcff1e71c95f62458ec74b4b8e5854a902?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80753fc24499e267f3819229506185fcff1e71c95f62458ec74b4b8e5854a902?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/asangaabeyag\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Books & Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Books & Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2024-03-21T01:46:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-31T15:23:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":629,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/","name":"Books & Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-21T01:46:28+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-31T15:23:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a955d5e371ccbaf5a42dda70a9c11310"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg","width":900,"height":629},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/books-elections-president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-claim-of-foreign-conspiracy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Books &#038; Elections: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Claim Of Foreign Conspiracy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a955d5e371ccbaf5a42dda70a9c11310","name":"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80753fc24499e267f3819229506185fcff1e71c95f62458ec74b4b8e5854a902?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80753fc24499e267f3819229506185fcff1e71c95f62458ec74b4b8e5854a902?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Asanga Abeyagoonasekera"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/asangaabeyag\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/The-conspiracy-book-by-Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-Colombo-Telegraph.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236182"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236188,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236182\/revisions\/236188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}