Ambihai Akilan
As Sri Lanka heads toward a significant parliamentary election, the recent presidential victory of Anura Kumara Dissanayake has ignited hopes for political transformation. For the first time, the grassroots Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and National People’s Power coalition (NPP) have gained a foothold in national leadership by winning over large sections of the Sinhala population, including many former Rajapaksa voters, raising expectations for systemic change.
Dissanayake’s rise and first actions as president marks a significant shift away from the entrenched power of political elites like the Wickremesinghes, the Kumaratungas, and the Rajapaksas, and represents a grassroots movement of lower-middle-class Sinhala voters disillusioned by economic crises and corruption. However, while Dissanayake’s ascent signifies a genuine challenge to the patronage-driven politics of the south, this shift remains deeply embedded in Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, leaving the crucial Tamil question unresolved.
A failure to engage with the Tamil demands for justice, accountability, and autonomy is not just a moral lapse; it’s a strategic misdiagnosis that will ultimately prevent Dissanayake from realizing the economic and social reforms he envisions, even for the Sinhala south. The massive and economically disastrous militarization of Tamil-speaking regions, unaddressed war crimes, and the state’s ethnonationalist character are inseparable from the island’s broader economic crisis.
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