Currently leading the 38 candidates for Sri Lankan president is Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The vote is on the 21st September.
In 1971 and then in the late 1980s, the party had led failed Marxist-inspired insurrections. The armed uprising launched by the JVP in 1988-89, calling for the overthrow of what they saw as the imperialist and capitalist regime of Presidents JR Jayawardene and R Premadasa, became one of the bloodiest periods in Sri Lankan history.
Widespread killings and political assassinations, unofficial curfews, sabotage and strikes called by the JVP were the order of the day. The JVP’s victims – the Marxists are believed to have killed thousands of people – included intellectuals, artists and trade unionists in addition to political opponents. The state retaliated by brutally crushing the rebellion with mass arrests, torture, abductions and mass murder. At least 60,000 people were killed in the government crackdown, including most senior JVP leaders, among them its founder Rohana Wijeweera.
Dissanayake was appointed to the JVP politburo after the failed insurrection when the party abandoned violence and turned to electoral democracy.
Speaking with the BBC in May 2014, soon after he became the leader of the JVP, Dissanayake apologised for the party’s past crimes. It was the first and the last time ever that the JVP has apologised for the violence it had unleashed on Sri Lanka in its earlier avatar.
A mass protest movement – known as the Aragalaya [Sinhalese for ‘struggle’] – against the ruling government forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation after his brother Mahinda, the prime minister, also had to quit. The brothers were forced to flee an angry nation.
Though no political party officially claimed the leadership of the Aragalaya movement, the JVP played an active role, holding daily protests, erecting tents in Colombo’s picturesque Galle Face and organising general strikes. The power vacuum created by the resignation of the Rajapaksa brothers paved the way for Dissanayake and the JVP to amplify calls for broader change, attracting disillusioned citizens to their advocacy for social justice and against corruption. From the margins, the party grew into a credible, major political force. And Dissanayake’s personal appeal has soared with his party’s.
A ‘pro-trade approach’
Yet, as Sri Lanka gets ready to vote, no issue is as central to the country as the state of the economy.
In April 2022, the Sri Lankan government announced that it was defaulting on its debt for the first time since independence. After succeeding Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President Wickremesinge secured a financial package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an attempt to get the country’s economy back on track.
While some analysts and Wickremesinge’s supporters commend the agreement with the IMF, Dissanayake has said that the JVP may try to renegotiate it to make it less painful for many ordinary Sri Lankans.
Following the agreement, the government introduced tax hikes, subsidy cuts and public sector reforms, which increased the cost of living and reduced social welfare support. Higher taxes and reduced subsidies, especially on essentials like fuel and electricity, have disproportionately affected low and middle-income families.
“Dissanayake now advocates for a pro-trade approach, emphasising the simplification of the tariff structure, improving the business environment, reforming tax administration, ending corruption and positioning the private sector as the engine of growth,” Fernando told Al Jazeera. “However, his stance on debt negotiations remains unclear.”
Dissanayake has, though, “expressed a commitment to staying within the current [IMF] programme”, Fernando said.
Cover up for Sinhala Buddhist racism?
But for all of Dissanayake’s big-tent approach to building a popular anticorruption coalition in the wake of the 2022 protests, the JVP’s troubled past with another major community also clouds its present and future.
The JVP has long been against any intervention in Sri Lanka by India. It viewed the Tamil separatist movement that also tore apart the nation from the 1980s until 2009 as linked to India’s influence over the country.
In fact, India sent troops to Sri Lanka to fight the Tamil rebels alongside Colombo from 1987 to 1990. Separately, New Delhi convinced Colombo to accept what is known as the 13th Amendment of Sri Lanka’s constitution, aimed at the devolution of some powers to provincial councils.
Even though it had itself taken up arms against the state previously, the JVP opposed the Tamil rebel movement because of its goal of a separate nation that would divide Sri Lanka. In the 2000s, as Sri Lanka under then President Mahinda Rajapaksa crushed the Tamil separatist movement, the JVP backed the government.
Sri Lankan Tamils and sections of the international community have long been asking for accountability for alleged war crimes committed during the civil war. Accusations include extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling on civilian targets including hospitals, forced disappearances, mass civilian killings, torture, sexual violence and denial of humanitarian aid.
But the JVP-led National People’s Power has ruled out any such investigation. The NPP will not seek to punish anyone accused of rights violations and war crimes, Dissanayake has said. Instead, he has suggested establishing a mechanism, perhaps in line with South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to find out what happened during the civil war.
In 1971 and then in the late 1980s, the party had led failed Marxist-inspired insurrections. The armed uprising launched by the JVP in 1988-89, calling for the overthrow of what they saw as the imperialist and capitalist regime of Presidents JR Jayawardene and R Premadasa, became one of the bloodiest periods in Sri Lankan history.
Widespread killings and political assassinations, unofficial curfews, sabotage and strikes called by the JVP were the order of the day. The JVP’s victims – the Marxists are believed to have killed thousands of people – included intellectuals, artists and trade unionists in addition to political opponents. The state retaliated by brutally crushing the rebellion with mass arrests, torture, abductions and mass murder. At least 60,000 people were killed in the government crackdown, including most senior JVP leaders, among them its founder Rohana Wijeweera.
Dissanayake was appointed to the JVP politburo after the failed insurrection when the party abandoned violence and turned to electoral democracy.
Speaking with the BBC in May 2014, soon after he became the leader of the JVP, Dissanayake apologised for the party’s past crimes. It was the first and the last time ever that the JVP has apologised for the violence it had unleashed on Sri Lanka in its earlier avatar.
A mass protest movement – known as the Aragalaya [Sinhalese for ‘struggle’] – against the ruling government forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation after his brother Mahinda, the prime minister, also had to quit. The brothers were forced to flee an angry nation.
Though no political party officially claimed the leadership of the Aragalaya movement, the JVP played an active role, holding daily protests, erecting tents in Colombo’s picturesque Galle Face and organising general strikes. The power vacuum created by the resignation of the Rajapaksa brothers paved the way for Dissanayake and the JVP to amplify calls for broader change, attracting disillusioned citizens to their advocacy for social justice and against corruption. From the margins, the party grew into a credible, major political force. And Dissanayake’s personal appeal has soared with his party’s.
A ‘pro-trade approach’
Yet, as Sri Lanka gets ready to vote, no issue is as central to the country as the state of the economy.
In April 2022, the Sri Lankan government announced that it was defaulting on its debt for the first time since independence. After succeeding Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President Wickremesinge secured a financial package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an attempt to get the country’s economy back on track.
While some analysts and Wickremesinge’s supporters commend the agreement with the IMF, Dissanayake has said that the JVP may try to renegotiate it to make it less painful for many ordinary Sri Lankans.
Following the agreement, the government introduced tax hikes, subsidy cuts and public sector reforms, which increased the cost of living and reduced social welfare support. Higher taxes and reduced subsidies, especially on essentials like fuel and electricity, have disproportionately affected low and middle-income families.
“Dissanayake now advocates for a pro-trade approach, emphasising the simplification of the tariff structure, improving the business environment, reforming tax administration, ending corruption and positioning the private sector as the engine of growth,” Fernando told Al Jazeera. “However, his stance on debt negotiations remains unclear.”
Dissanayake has, though, “expressed a commitment to staying within the current [IMF] programme”, Fernando said.
Cover up for Sinhala Buddhist racism?
But for all of Dissanayake’s big-tent approach to building a popular anticorruption coalition in the wake of the 2022 protests, the JVP’s troubled past with another major community also clouds its present and future.
The JVP has long been against any intervention in Sri Lanka by India. It viewed the Tamil separatist movement that also tore apart the nation from the 1980s until 2009 as linked to India’s influence over the country.
In fact, India sent troops to Sri Lanka to fight the Tamil rebels alongside Colombo from 1987 to 1990. Separately, New Delhi convinced Colombo to accept what is known as the 13th Amendment of Sri Lanka’s constitution, aimed at the devolution of some powers to provincial councils.
Even though it had itself taken up arms against the state previously, the JVP opposed the Tamil rebel movement because of its goal of a separate nation that would divide Sri Lanka. In the 2000s, as Sri Lanka under then President Mahinda Rajapaksa crushed the Tamil separatist movement, the JVP backed the government.
Sri Lankan Tamils and sections of the international community have long been asking for accountability for alleged war crimes committed during the civil war. Accusations include extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling on civilian targets including hospitals, forced disappearances, mass civilian killings, torture, sexual violence and denial of humanitarian aid.
But the JVP-led National People’s Power has ruled out any such investigation. The NPP will not seek to punish anyone accused of rights violations and war crimes, Dissanayake has said. Instead, he has suggested establishing a mechanism, perhaps in line with South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to find out what happened during the civil war.
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