1st Gajaba Regiment General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy
Battles/wars
Sri Lankan Civil War 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
Awards
Rana Wickrama Padakkama Rana Sura Padakkama
Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, RWP, RSP (Sinhala: නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; Tamil: நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer, who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022.[6] He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Born to a political family from the Southern Province, Rajapaksa was educated at Ananda College, Colombo and joined the Ceylon Army in April 1971. Following basic training at the Army Training Centre, Diyatalawa, he was commissioned as signals officer and later transferred to several infantry regiments.[citation needed] He saw active service in the early stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War with the elite Gajaba Regiment, taking part in several major offensives such as the Vadamarachi Operation, Operation Strike Hard and Operation Thrividha Balaya, as well as counter-insurgency operations during the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection.
Rajapaksa took early retirement from the army and moved into the field of information technology, before immigrating to the United States in 1998. He returned to Sri Lanka in 2005, to assist his brother in his presidential campaign and was appointed Defence Secretary in his brother's administration. During his tenure the Sri Lankan Armed Forces successfully concluded the Sri Lankan Civil War defeating the LTTE and killing its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009. He was a target of an assassination attempt in December 2006 by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber. Following the war, Rajapaksa initiated many urban development projects. He stepped down following the defeat of his brother in the 2015 presidential election.
Rajapaksa emerged as the SLPP candidate for the 2019 presidential election, in which he successfully contested on a pro-nationalistic, economic development and national security platform. He was the first president of Sri Lanka with military background and also the first elected president who had never held an elected office before.[7] During his presidency, Rajapaksa increased his presidential powers through the 20th Amendment and nepotism rose as members of the Rajapaksa family were appointed to several positions of power, and led the country during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic mismanagement drove the country to bankruptcy, causing Sri Lanka to declare default for the first time since gaining independence in 1948. This economic crisis caused shortages and inflation, leading to the 2022 Sri Lankan protests and political crisis. The Rajapaksa administration responded by declaring a state of emergency, which allowed the military to arrest civilians, imposing curfews, restricting social media, assaulting protesters and journalists, and arresting online activists. Rajapaksa refused to step down, even after protests became violent, until 14 July, when Rajapaksa fled the country via a military aircraft and began a 50-day self-exile,[8][9] and officially emailed his resignation letter from Singapore the next day. On 2 September, Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka.
^"CT finds Gota's true U.S. renunciation certificate". Ceylon Today. 1 August 2019. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
^"Police to probe Gota's citizenship, passports". Daily FT. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 10 August 2019. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
^"Gota's Lanka citizenship in doubt, candidacy under cloud". The Island. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 22 September 2019. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
^Singh, Anurangi (29 September 2019). "Gota's citizenship challenged in Court of Appeal". Sunday Observer. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
^"People want non-traditional politicians – Gotabhaya Rajapaksa". dailymirror.lk. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
^"Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya has officially stepped down". Sri Lanka News – Newsfirst. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
^"Sri Lankan President Gotabaya, the first person with military credentials to be elected as President". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^"Plane Said to Carry Sri Lanka's President Most-Tracked in World". Bloomberg. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
^"Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees the country on military jet". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
and 28 Related for: Gotabaya Rajapaksa information
Nandasena GotabayaRajapaksa, RWP, RSP (Sinhala: නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; Tamil: நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan politician...
GotabayaRajapaksa, a Sri Lankan politician and former military officer who served as the 8th president of Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022, initiated a self-imposed...
resignation of GotabayaRajapaksa and other key officials from the Rajapaksa family. On 3 April, several ministers in the second GotabayaRajapaksa cabinet submitted...
brother, GotabayaRajapaksa, who had become president on 18 November after winning the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election. On 9 August 2020, Rajapaksa was...
Maithripala Sirisena did not run for a second term. GotabayaRajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was the candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana...
protesters' main demand was the resignation of President GotabayaRajapaksa and key officials from the Rajapaksa family. Despite the involvement of several opposition...
political crisis in Sri Lanka due to the power struggle between President GotabayaRajapaksa and the people of Sri Lanka. It was fueled by the anti-government...
2019 presidential election, GotabayaRajapaksa, the brother of Mahinda Rajapaksa, ran and won. The popularity of the Rajapaksa family collapsed after their...
The second GotabayaRajapaksa cabinet was the central government of Sri Lanka led by President GotabayaRajapaksa. It was formed in August 2020 after the...
acting president on 14 July 2022, after his predecessor GotabayaRajapaksa fled the country. Rajapaksa resigned on 14 July 2022, and the same day, Wickremesinghe...
where SLPP candidate GotabayaRajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory, defeating his main opponent Sajith Premadasa. Rajapaksa would eventually...
Associated Press. Colombo. Retrieved 14 July 2022. Sri Lankan President GotabayaRajapaksa fled on a military jet on Wednesday after angry protesters seized...
Sri Lanka on 20 July 2022 following the resignation of president GotabayaRajapaksa on 14 July. The president of Sri Lanka was elected by the Parliament...
GotabayaRajapaksa. The protests culminated with the storming and siege of the President's House on July 9, 2022, and resulted in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa...
three younger brothers: Mahinda Rajapaksa, GotabayaRajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa and two younger sisters, to D. A. Rajapaksa and Dona Dandina Samarasinghe...
June 2022, succeeding Basil Rajapaksa from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, briefly serving President GotabayaRajapaksa as his Minister of Investment...
a virulent critic of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, and had been locked in a legal battle with GotabayaRajapaksa, who was defence secretary at the...
widespread protests in 2022, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned. President GotabayaRajapaksa, who wished to form a government of national unity...
The first GotabayaRajapaksa cabinet was a central government of Sri Lanka led by President GotabayaRajapaksa. It was formed in November 2019 after the...
President GotabayaRajapaksa flees the country on military jet". BBC News. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022. "Sri Lankan president GotabayaRajapaksa flees...
mongering to the benefit of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his camp. Dayan was known for his opposition to GotabayaRajapaksa and has implied of him being the creator...
President Rajapaksa may refer to: Mahinda Rajapaksa (born 1945), 6th President of Sri Lanka (2005–2015) and brother of GotabayaRajapaksaGotabayaRajapaksa (born...
"GotabayaRajapaksa appoints Ranil Wickremesinghe as Sri Lankan president". Tamil Guardian. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022. "Sri Lanka: Gotabaya...
to run for a second term, the SLFP chose to endorse SLPP candidate GotabayaRajapaksa, who won the election. The SLPP, SLFP and several other smaller parties...
Defence Secretary GotabayaRajapaksa who supported organizations like the NTJ and that four Army officers linked to GotabayaRajapaksa were involved in...
The third GotabayaRajapaksa cabinet was the central government of Sri Lanka led by President GotabayaRajapaksa. It was formed in April 2022 after the...
Gunawardena was appointed as the Prime Minister after former President GotabayaRajapaksa resigned amidst the ongoing economic crisis and Ranil Wickremesinghe...
November 2019 presidential election former wartime defence chief GotabayaRajapaksa was elected as the new President of Sri Lanka. He was the candidate...