When Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the Presidential Election in Sri Lanka pushing Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya to the second and incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe to the third place, he sent shock waves across the world. The island nation created waves of disbelief and hope in the Indian Ocean as a country staring at economic collapse and political turmoil tried to send the message that all is not over and the strife-torn nation is making a comeback.

Sri Lanka: Economy In Tatters

Sri Lanka went to polls at a time when its economy was in tatters after years of under-taxation and weak exports due to faulty policy decisions. These errors were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the drying up of the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Sri Lankan economy came to such a miserable situation that the public debt reached more than $83bn and inflation skyrocketed to 70%.

Economic Woes Pave Way For Marxist Leader

Political observers believe the general masses of Sri Lanka were frustrated and completely disenchanted with the political system of the island nation. The economic crisis that gripped the country in 2022 and the circumstances surrounding it, forced the people to search for parallel politics and a dependable new political leadership, which could address their pressing problems.

Gotabaya’s Measures Backfire

At this juncture, Dissanayake came forward with policy pledges and promises to take tough anti-corruption measures, coupled with bigger welfare schemes and tax cuts aimed at easing the burden on the masses to some extent. It was just the opposite of the tax hikes and slashing welfare schemes of the incumbent government as part of austerity measures aimed at putting the country’s economy back on track. But these measures backfired and complicated the situation further, leaving many people jobless and under economic pressure. 

Dissanayake Waters Down Marxist Policies

The experts keeping an eye on the evolving situation in Sri Lanka believe Dissanayake grabbed the opportunity smartly and tempered his campaign speeches, insisting he was committed to ensuring repayment of Sri Lanka’s debt. Sending the message that he would focus on finding the solution to the imploding economic crisis rather than imposing a state-controlled Marxist economic system, he emphasised any changes would be made in consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It helped the Marxist leader as the island nation’s soaring inflation, skyrocketing cost-of-living and poverty pushed the desperate electorate to the leader who at least promised to find solutions to stabilise prices and improve livelihoods.

JVP Tweaks Policies

Anura Kumara Dissanayake should be credited with changing the radical Janatha Vimukthi Peamuna and making the fundamental and puritan Marxist outfit into a pragmatic political party to suit the needs of the hour. A Marxist–Leninist communist party, the JVP was earlier a revolutionary movement. It was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka, once in 1971 and the other in 1987–89. Both of the uprisings aimed at establishing a socialist state in the island nation.

After it had embraced the parliamentary democracy and entered mainstream democratic politics, it also tweaked its ideology and abandoned some of its original Marxist policies like the abolition of private property.

Earlier Forays Into Electoral Politics

The JVP went to the Presidential Elections in 2019 as National People’s Power and made Anura Kumara Dissanayake its candidate, to receive just 418,553 or 3.16% of votes. The Marxist party also participated in the 2020 elections as the NPP and finished fourth. It garnered a total of 445,958 or just 3.48% votes.

Dissanayake Emerges As Stronger Contender

Much before the declaration of the elections, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government were held responsible for the economic bloodbath and the political crisis that gripped the country. Though he was driven out of the island nation in 2022 after mass protests due to the economic meltdown, the situation did not improve much. Dissanayake emerged as a strong contender under the circumstances that positioned him as a candidate for change against a backdrop of simmering nationwide discontent.

What Will Dissanayake Do Now?

Moving cautiously and smartly, Dissanayake tried to send the message that he would not stick to his Marxist views and said that his victory belonged to all.  He took to social media platform X to write in a post, ‘The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally coming true. This achievement is not the result of any single person’s work, but the collective effort of hundreds of thousands of you.” He also added, ‘This victory belongs to all of us.

Dissanayake also declared that the unity of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and all Sri Lankans is the bedrock of this new beginning. He also claimed the New Renaissance would rise from this shared strength and vision.