DNA Explainer: 4 people who uprooted Rajapaksa family by gathering mass support through Facebook

Reported By:DNA Web Team| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Jul 19, 2022, 12:12 PM IST

The world witnessed how on July 9, 2022, a huge crowd gathered near the President's House in Colombo. Tens of thousands of protesters stormed the colonial-era residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and later set Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's house on fire. The scenario became such that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to leave his house and run away. Video images showed jubilant crowds splashing in the garden pool, lying on beds and using their mobile phone cameras to capture the moment from the Presidential building. Read | Sri Lanka crisis: How and with whose help Gotabaya Rajapaksa escaped to Maldives overnight? However, this huge demonstration was not a spurt of the moment incident but was well planned in advance and had a face to it. Actually, four young faces from different fields were behind the huge crowd that gathered near the President's House in Colombo. This ranged from digital marketing expert to playwright and even a pastor. These people reached out to everyone in Sri Lanka through social media platform Facebook and garnered thousands of people to reach the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, seen by the whole world. Despite the imposition of curfew in most parts of Colombo and barricades placed everywhere, people came in huge numbers on the afternoon of July 9. Here we try to understand how such a massive protest by the name Argala movement was planned for the past 4-5 months, who were the faces behind it and what strategy they adopted to reach the maximum people across the country through Facebook and share their plan of action. How did all this happen? Four young faces were behind organising such a massive protest which took around 4 to 5 months of planning. There strategy was to reach maximum number of people. Chamire Dedavge Young Chamire Dedavge's Facebook account is filled with many videos and messages appealing to the public. His every post has been shared extensively. He is a marketing professional. He works as a manager in a big advertising company in the country. Besides, he is also an activist and a political analyst in the current situation. He started the campaign from April and held long meetings. Satya Charit Amaratunge This young activist's Facebook account shows him taking out a procession and shouting slogans of Go Gota Home. His account too is full of posts appealing to the public and awakening them for the movement through videos. This marketing professional lives in Moratua, 20 km from Colombo. To him goes the credit of connecting 8 million Facebook users across the country to this movement. The posts of both, Chamire Dedavge and Satya Charit Amaratunge got a reach to every corner of the country. Satya, along with his companions, continued to work with his colleagues to strategise, reach people through Facebook even a day before the protests. Ruvanti di Chiquera Ruvanti di Chiquera is a playwright and social activist. Her work was how he reach the homes of people across the country and specially in Colombo and surrounding areas through volunteers and door to door contact. She performed this task skilfully. Since she is a playwright, she used this method to connect with people. Her dialogues were well-liked. Needless to say that she too has been tremendously active on Facebook for the last few months. by TaboolaSponsored LinksYou May Like Careers TB Business Advisory Pvt Ltd Avoid Writing Mistakes With This Desktop App Grammarly Amila Jeevant Peiris Amila Jeevant Peiris is a Catholic priest by profession but took part in the work of awakening the people in the country. He took all the religious organisations together to be a part of this huge Argala movement which threw the Rajpaksas out of power. Along with his colleagues, he directly contacted the opposition parties and student federations. He is also very active on Facebook where you will find videos and appealing posts. He has been addressing small gatherings and worked to wake up people. Their continuous demonstrations led to the resignations of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa. The July 9 demonstration was such a massive one that led to the fall of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.