Who is Anura Dissanayake: There has been a big upset in the presidential election of Sri Lanka. Marxist leader Anura Disanayake won here. He said in a post on Instagram that this is a victory for everyone. This will be the first time that a leftist leader will hold the post of President in Sri Lanka. After his victory, Disanayake called for national unity and said, “The unity of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and all Sri Lankans is the basis for a new beginning.”
Table of Contents
Dissanayake beats the giants
He expressed hope for a new beginning to realize the aspirations of the country. Sri Lanka’s Election Commission formally announced that 55-year-old Dissanayake won Saturday’s election with 42.31 percent of the vote, while opposition leader Sajith Premadasa came second and Wickremesinghe came third.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party leader Dissanayake was born in a labourer’s house away from the capital Colombo. He entered student politics in the 80s. Dissanayake joined the JVP during the 1987 to 1989 agitation against the government and then went on to create his own identity.
The survey also predicted Dissanayake’s victory
Anura was known for his opposition to India, now he has increased his friendship
Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the leader of the leftist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). He contested the presidential election on behalf of the National People’s Power (NPP) coalition. This coalition got only 3 percent votes in the last election.
According to the South China Morning Post, the JVP party is known for its anti-India stance. In the 1980s, India had decided to send a Peace Keeping Force to Sri Lanka to deal with the LTTE. The JVP had opposed it then.
In recent years, the JVP has changed its anti-India stance. However, Anura started a new controversy by making a statement against the Indian company Adani before the elections. The JVP leader had promised that after winning the presidential election, he would cancel the Adani Group’s wind power project in Sri Lanka.
Anura had said that the Adani project is a threat to Sri Lanka’s energy sovereignty. Adani Group has signed a deal with the Sri Lankan government this year to develop a wind power station. For this, the company is going to invest $ 442 million (about Rs 367 crore).
Anura became popular among the youth by making statements against corruption
In the last 4 years, the popularity of Anura Dissanayake and NPP has increased a lot. The people of Sri Lanka have a lot of expectations from NPP for economic reform and social equality, as it has never been in power before. Therefore, people have more trust in it.
Anura Dissanayake is very popular among the youth. Another main reason for the growing popularity of NPP is the promise to fight corruption. Anura is promising to free Sri Lanka from corruption in every campaign. The youth feel that corruption is the main reason for the country’s deteriorating economic condition.
The party has also worked on stronger international ties. China and India are two of Sri Lanka’s major economic partners. The party visited China in December 2023 and met senior leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
Similarly, a delegation of the NPP visited India in February 2024 and met senior Indian officials, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Dissanayake’s party is pro-China
His party has also been accused of violence in Sri Lanka. In the 80s, when Disanayake was in JVP, his party carried out armed rebellion and violence against the current government of Sri Lanka. That period is also remembered as the bloody period of Sri Lanka. Disanayake becoming the President can also be a cause of concern for India because his party JVP is considered pro-China.
Dissanayake’s political career
Sri Lanka’s new President Dissanayake’s political career saw many ups and downs. In 1995, he was made the national organizer of the Socialist Students Association, after which he also got a place in the Central Working Committee of the JVP. Before Dissanayake became an MP for the first time in 2000, he was a member of the party’s political bureau for three years. In 2004, he was made the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation in the coalition government with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), although he resigned after a year.
He has always talked about change in the country by keeping Marxist ideology at the forefront. Even in the presidential election campaign, Disanayake had mostly mentioned the issues of students and workers. He had promised the people of Sri Lanka changes in important areas like education, health, transport.
Dissanayake changed the image of his party
Anura Dissanayake was made the president of JVP in 2014. After this, his biggest responsibility was to change the image of the party, which was associated with the rebellion of 1971 and 1987. Dissanayake did this very well and also publicly apologized to the people of Sri Lanka.
Dissanayake contested the presidential election for the first time in 2019, but he got only three percent of the votes. After this, after the economic crisis in Sri Lanka in the year 2022, the JVP party presented itself as an anti-corruption leader in the country, which benefited him a lot.
Also Read:
