Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Anura Kumara Dissanayake අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක அநுர குமார திசாநாயக்க
Born	Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake 24 November 1968 (age 55) Galewela, Ceylon
Political orientation	Marxism Democratic Socialism Anti-Racism
Political party	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna

Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake, commonly known by his initials AKD, is a Sri Lankan politician who has served as president of the country from 23 September 2024.

He is the leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, officially a Leftist and Marxist-Leninist party in Sri Lanka, and is the leader of National People's Power, a Left coalition.

It has been claimed that both parties are Sinhala ethnonationalist parties with little connection to socialism.

However, party officials of the JVP have committed to Marxism-Leninism, regardless of opposing claims.

He has previously supported Sinhala nationalist policies and rhetoric and has throughout his political life advocated against the Tamil people.

Although, now he has proclaimed an anti-racist stance toward Tamils and has supported a 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution which would grant Tamils more rights and also make Tamil an official language.

Early life and political involvement

Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born 24 November 1968 in central Sri Lanka to working parents.

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.

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 and Dissanayake went underground while most of the leadership of the JVP was killed or imprisoned.

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.

Mainstream political career

In 2000 Dissanayake was elected to parliament after JVP entered into an alliance with Chandrika Kumaratunga, then president of Sri Lanka. The alliance was created to oppose a propsed ceasefire agreement between then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He opposed the ceasefire agreement when it was signed in 2002.

In 2004 he and his party campaigned explicitly against a ceasefire and formed an alliance with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and that year became Minister of Agriculture, Lands, and Irrigation. The same year he opposed aid distribution efforts in majority Tamil regions after a tsunami devastated the area.

In 2005 he and other JVP members resigned from the government due to the ongoing peace process and backed the anti-ceasefire candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In 2006 he was involved in the founding of the Joint Front to Protect the Nation, which was founded by the JVP in opposition to any ceasefire talks and in favor of military action.

The JVP went on to support the 2009 campaign which destroyed the LTTE and resulted in up to 169,796 deaths of mostly civilians. During this time the JVP protested outside embassies and the United Nations office in Sri Lanka in protest of any efforts to investigate human rights abuses by Sri Lanka.

Now, he and the JVP/NPP have proclaimed to support a Sri Lanka free of racism of any type

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.

Now, the JVP/NPP has proclaimed to support a socialist-market economy with similarities to countries like Vietnam.

In 2019 he ran for president for the first time, losing to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to flee the country amidst widespread protests two years later.

2024 campaign

He ran again in 2024. He promised to dissolve parliament 'the very night' of victory, and promised to continue to grant Buddhism special status in Sri Lanka. His party also openly associated with Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, leader of the Sinhala reactionary nationalist and fascist Bodu Bala Sena party. He toured the majority Tamil North-East of Sri Lanka during his campaign, and while there emphasized that he would not implement a proposed constitutional amendment which would grant greater powers to Tamils. He positioned the JVP as staunchly anti-federalist. He also promised during his campaign that no one accused of human rights violations and war crimes in the 2009 genocide would be punished.

However, he has said that he would open a Truth and Reconciliation committee similar to South Africa’s in looking over previous war crimes committed including against Tamils

In addition to historical racism against Tamil people in Sri Lanka, the JVP has historically held racist views toward people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka, with his party describing them as a 'fifth column'.

During the campaign trail Tamil-minority groups, such as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have declared AKD as not being racist.

His party/coalition (JVP/NPP) won the 2024 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections in a landslide including in Tamil strongholds, such as Jaffna.

Presidency

One of Dissanayake's first acts as president was the appointment of Sampath Thuyacontha as Secretary of Defense. Thuyacontha has boasted of "causing chaos" during the 2009 genocide and there are reasons to believe he is responsible for war crimes committed during the 2009 genocide. He has admitted to leading a helicopter gunship squadron involved in 400 missions during that genocide. He has also claimed personal involvement in 60 missions during the later state of the fighting. However at this time legal proceedings have not been opened against him. After the genocide, he was sent abroad as a diplomat, reportedly in a move to shield him from prosecution.

Dissanayake has also returned land owned by the government and army to Tamils after making a promise that he would give government/army occupied land back to their rightful Tamil owners.