Sri Lankan rice farmers who fought against President Mahinda Rajapakse and his powerful brothers, trying to construct an international airport on their paddies, say they won because their cause was just and enjoyed popular support.
"There was no hidden agenda. It was not a personal battle; I fought in the national interest and 800 families were involved in the campaign. Why did the Rajapakses back off? Maybe because we were clean and honest," says H.M. Premachandra, 52, president of the local paddy farmers' society that so successfully campaigned against the airport.
Seated inside his small brick house in this southern coastal town -- ancestral home of the President and where development activity has sprung up all over -- Premachandra says he and his colleagues have no objection to an airport in the area since that will help develop the region and provide jobs.
"Our objection was that there are better places in Hambantota for this project. ...