Sri Lankans mount worldwide protests amid social, economic and political meltdown

New Delhi, April 11

The Sri Lankan diaspora has intensified its protests across the world. Expat Sri Lankans have come out to protest against their government in some of the major cities in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US as life becomes tougher back home.

As the food and fuel crisis grows in the island nation, people have a single-point agenda -- they want President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to go. Many believe that the Rajapaksas, one of the most prominent and powerful families in the country, who held the positions of the president, prime minister, finance minister, irrigation minister, sports minister and other governmental posts have brought ruin upon the country due to their policies.

People have been facing hardships since last year when the prices of fuel began to go up, scheduled power cuts were announced by the government and the prices of good began inching up. However, with the government running out of foreign exchange rather quickly, the last one month has been terrible for common Sri Lankans -- who eventually took to the street to express their discontentment and anger.

Within Sri Lanka, protests continue unabated with people taking over the Galle seafront. The protesters have stayed put without a break even during the night. With the government unable to find solutions to the crisis owing to an almost depleted treasury, protesters too have hardened their stand.

With President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa still holding fort, and unable to mitigate the public crisis, people are now eching the opposition's stand -- they want the entire Rajapaksa family out of politics, beginning with President Rajapaksa, whose name lends itself to the most-chanted slogan of the protests "Go home Gota".