India on Wednesday categorically denied "baseless and speculative" media reports that it facilitated the travel of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy.

Sri Lanka's prime minister has warned of a food shortage as the island nation battles a devastating economic crisis and vowed the government will buy enough fertiliser for the next planting season to boost productivity.

It is not unknown in history that a single ruler was the cause of a nation’s downfall, the obvious case in modern times being Adolf Hitler—an elected leader—one of the best known among a collection of reviled names scattered throughout history as examples of the evil that power can degenerate into.