In the first Presidential election since the turmoil of 2022, Sri Lankans voted for a decisive change electing Marxist candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a fringe player on the nation’s political stage for decades. In a patent rejection of dynastic politics and status quoism, Lankans opted for a man who has promised to root out corruption and ease the economic burdens of the people which have only been increasing since the 2022 crisis. In a first for the country, the election was decided after a second round of counting which sealed a decisive win for Dissanayake or AKD as he is popularly known with Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa coming in second and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe a distant third. The JVP, a Marxist Sinhala party, has a violent past, leading an armed insurrection in the 1970s which was suppressed by Indian troops and again in 1989 to protest against the deployment of the Indian Peacekeeping Force. It also carried out targeted assassinations of prominent figures. The JVP entered the political mainstream in the 1990s and contested elections even winning a seat in 1994. After the civil war ended in 2009, it slowly faded into obscurity with most of its cadres being co-opted by the SNLP. It is only when Dissanayake took over the leadership in 2014 that things began to change. He regretted the violent uprisings of the past and formed the Leftist NPP coalition in 2015 with 25 other organisations.
During the 2022 uprising that saw desperate Sri Lankans buffeted by a severe economic crisis storming the Presidential palace and vandalising it even as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa quit, the JVP was able to strike a chord with its distinctly anti-establishment stance. Wickremesinghe succeeded Rajapaksa as President in 2022, cobbling together a government that transcended party lines on the back of promises to get the nation’s economy back on track. He struck a deal with the IMF which has now become a bone of contention. Dissanayake has criticised the deal and has promised to rework it to the advantage of Sri Lanka. The charismatic leader, whose party won only three per cent of the vote in the 2019 election, has now captured the imagination of the Sri Lankan people. His humble working class background, becoming the first person in his village to go to university, has a strong appeal for Sri Lankans fed up with the parties of privilege and entitlement. However, in not very good news for New Delhi, Dissanayake is seen as an anti-India politician given the JVP’s past with a distinct slant towards China though he has criticised the decision to lease out the Hambantota port to Beijing. India will have to tread cautiously with the new Sri Lankan leadership. For Dissanayake it is a long and exciting road ahead as he takes over the reins of a nation troubled by economic chaos.
