Sri Lanka’s financial crisis has shattered the image of the Rajapaksa brothers, one of whom is the Prime Minister, while the other is the President of the country. Adulation for their strongmen personae had reached a peak since the 2009 military campaign wiped out the LTTE and its reclusive chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Rajapaksas were hailed as heroes and adored by the Sinhala-Buddhist masses for ending an ethnic war that had persisted for over two decades.