Conspiracy theorists throw the book to clear their names ahead of elections

The recent trend among controversial politicians seems to be to write a book of ‘revelations’ to clear up the allegations or criticism against them and use the opportunity to grab some media attention.

It started with parliamentarian and National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa’s claim. In his book, he spoke about a regime change through the so-called Aragalaya protests in 2022. He pointed fingers at foreign diplomats. In former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s recently launched book “The Conspiracy,” the underlying theme is that there has been an international conspiracy to oust him from office.

The latest to join the writers is parliamentarian Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, whose book titled ‘Easter Sunday Attacks: Understating Ethnic-Religious Reconciliation’ was launched in Batticaloa yesterday.

The one-time militant turned politician was the focus of the controversy following the recent British Channel 4 TV documentary where one whistleblower who was close to him alleged Pillayan worked closely with senior security officials to orchestrate the deadly terror attacks to pave the way for a ‘regime change’ in 2019.

At the Batticaloa event, a civil society activist was heard saying that politicians have resorted to writing books now to clear their name ahead of the elections while pointing out Pillayan’s divisive tactics in the recent past at the expense of ethnic harmony in the region.