Anura Kumara Dissanayake

October 4, 2024 12:32 AM

EAM Jaishankar to Visit Sri Lanka, Meet Newly Elected President Dissanayake

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar is set to embark on an official visit to Sri Lanka on October 4, where he will hold talks with the country's newly elected leadership. The visit reaffirms India's commitment to its "Neighbourhood First" policy and the SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision, aimed at strengthening maritime and regional cooperation. "This visit underscores the shared commitment of India and Sri Lanka to further deepen their longstanding partnership f...

September 30, 2024 12:44 PM

From Protests to Power: Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s Journey as Sri Lanka’s First Leftist President

It is more than two years since the Aragalaya Protests shook Sri Lanka to the core. Aragalaya means Struggle in the Sinhala language. The imagery of people storming the Presidential Palace and hoisting the Sri Lankan national flag, amid slogans of ‘Gota Go Home’, is fresh in the minds of many, in this island nation of 23 million people. Gota is the nickname of the then President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He fled the country in the wake of the Aragalaya Protests, and, resigned afterwards. Cut t...

September 22, 2024 10:10 PM

Sri Lankans elect Marxist-leaning Dissanayake as president to fix economy

Sri Lankans elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as new president on Sunday, putting faith in his pledge to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery following the South Asian nation's worst financial crisis in decades. Dissanayake, 55, who does not possess political lineage like some of his rivals in the presidential election, led from start to finish during the counting of votes, knocking out incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Prem...

September 19, 2024 12:15 PM

Sri Lanka’s 2022 ‘Aragalaya’ revolt hangs heavy over presidential vote

Just over two years since Sri Lanka's 'Aragalaya' uprising that deposed the nation's president, the movement that sparked the mass struggle is rallying behind Anura Kumara Dissanayake to lead the fight against corruption and revive a broken economy. Marxist-leaning Dissanayake, popularly known as AKD, will be vying to become the South Asian country's new president as Sri Lankans prepare to vote on Saturday, hoping to draw on the widespread discontent that fuelled the protests in 2022 and ...