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Anura Kumara Dissanayake අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක | |
|---|---|
| Born | Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake 24 November 1968 |
| Political orientation | Marxism (claimed) Reformism Imperialism Anti-Tamil Racism |
| Political party | Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna |
Anura Kumara Dissanayake is a Sri Lankan politician who has served as president of the country from 23 September 2024.[1]
He is the leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a de jure Leftist and Marxist party in Sri Lanka, and is the leader of National People's Power, a Left coalition. In reality both parties are Sinhala ethnonationalist parties with little connection to socialism.[1]
He supports Sinhala nationalist policies and rhetoric and has throughout his political life advocated against the Tamil people and their national liberation struggle. He has consistently opposed Tamil self-government, supported genocidal campaigns against the Tamils, and supports placing Buddhism as Sri Lanka's state religion.[1]
Early life and political involvement
Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born 24 November 1968 in central Sri Lanka to working parents.[2]
He first became politically while in school, opposing Tamil liberation in demonstrations against an agreement made with the Republic of India that would grant a degree of self rule to the ethnic minority.[2]
He joined the Socialist Students' Union, the student wing of the ostensibly leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party. In 1987 the JVP staged an armed insurrection against the government of Sri Lanka after the group was banned, and Dissanayake went underground while most of the leadership of the JVP was killed or imprisoned.[2]
In 1993 he entered national politics in an effort to rebuild the party under Somawansa Amarasinghe. In 1994 the party won a seat in parliament, and in 1997 Dissanayake became national organizer of the Socialist Students' Union. He was added to the JVP Central Committee that year and joined the party politburo the next year.[2]
Mainstream political career
In 2000 Dissanayake was elected to parliament after JVP entered into an alliance with Chandrika Kumaratunga, then president of Sri Lanka. He was agriculture and irrigation minister for a time. The alliance was created to oppose the ceasefire agreement between then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Dissanayake went on to support the genocidal 2009 campaign which destroyed the LTTE and resulted in up to 169,796 deaths of mostly civilians.[2]
He became leader of JVP when the left of the party broke away in 2014 and formed the National People's Power coalition in 2019, which included 21 groups. He subsequently moved to the right, stating that he supported a 'free market economy'.[2]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared Sri Lankan president" (2024-11-22). https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/anura-kumara-dissanayake-declared-sri-lankan-president.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI (2024-11-23). "Who is Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka's new Marxist president?" ABC News.