The resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has become official with his fleeing from the island nation. He is presently seeking political asylum in other countries, but it is a tricky situation for him given his reputation as a political leader.
As he absconded to a temporary refuge in Singapore, the Sri Lankan people rejoiced his absence by publicly cooking and distributing milk rice-a traditional way of symbolizing victory. Patriotic music revved up the atmosphere of protest as Velayuthan Pillar, 73 and a bank employee, said, “I am happy that Gotabaya has finally left. He should have resigned earlier, without causing much problems.”
The fury of the Sri Lankan people can be traced to the severe economic crisis which they have been grappling with. Sri Lanka is running low on money to procure imports of basic necessities like food, fertilizer, medicine, and fuel. This is coming down hard on the nation’s 22 million citizens. Apparently, just before the rapid economic downfall, the economy was growing comfortably.
The protestors attributed the crisis to the Rajapaksa ruling family stealing from the government treasury for years and manhandling the national economy. Although the family has denied these accusations, Gotabaya has admitted that Sri Lanka’s debacle has been a direct outcome of some of his policies.
As Rajapaksa’s search for a country to give him political asylum continues, check out these other examples of political leaders who have sought asylum in recent history.
Dalai Lama
With Chinese troops close at his heels, the 14th Dalai Lama crossed the Indo-Tibetan border to reach Chutangmu, a small Assam Rifles outpost near Tawang on March 31st, 1959. He had sought political asylum from the Indian government, and Nehru had invited him to Mussoorie a few weeks later and formally granted him asylum.
The Dalai Lama’s exile in India had started a colossal movement of Tibetan refugees India, who had lost their only home in Tibet to the Chinese military. Currently, the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan Government-in-Exile reside in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.
João Goulart
The 24th President of Brazil was ousted from his post by the military coup d’état staged in Rio de Janeiro on March 31st, 1964.
The military coup had been building up for years, being plotted by commanders of the Armed Forces, who took advantage of the people’s disenchantment with the government. Goulart was granted asylum in Uruguay on 21st April 1964, and he waived it on 9th November 1976, only to pass away on 6th December.
Read More: Did India Help Sri Lankan President To Escape To Maldives?
Anastasio Somoza Debayle
The President of Nicaragua was deposed in 1979 and had sought asylum in Miami, USA, with his family and other military leaders. By his resignation, he had ended 43 years of Somoza rule, and given in to the new Nicaraguan government put together by the Sandinista insurrectionists.
In his misfortune, Somoza was assassinated in September 1980 in Paraguay, where he was in exile.
Svetlana Stalina
Being a writer and lecturer, she was the daughter of Joseph Stalin, the infamous Soviet dictator, who transformed the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian country into a global superpower and also contrived the death of millions of Soviet citizens.
After his death in 1953, she lost rights of residence in the country and applied for asylum in the US from India. President Lyndon B. Johnson accepted her as a political refugee, and she stayed in the US till her death in 2011.
Nikola Gruevski
The former Macedonian Prime Minister had been granted political asylum in Hungary after he fled from his home country in 2018.
He was accused of a wire-tapping scandal and illegal purchase of a bulletproof limousine among other corruption-related cases filed against him. Recently he has been sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined €3,200 by the Criminal Court in Skopje.
Disclaimer: This article is fact-checked
Sources: Spectrum News, Politico, The Wire
Image sources: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
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This post is tagged under: political asylum, political asylum seekers, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka, emergency in sri lanka, Sri Lanka Crisis, sri lanka politics, Sri Lankan economy, dalai lama, dalai lama on migration, joao goulart, Brazilian President, anastasio somoza, nicaragua, joseph stalin, nikola gruevski, macedonian prime minister
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