Anura Kumara Dissanayake emerges as frontrunner for presidential poll

Party’s theme will be ‘Rich People, Rich Country’ Instead of nationalisation, private sector will play key role

In just 28 days, 2024 will dawn. Two foremost events the country will witness will be a presidential election and a parliamentary general election— both pledged in Parliament by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Colombo-based diplomatic missions, international organisations, study groups and even political parties have been busy in the past months placing their bets on surveys and opinion polls. Emerging as an unexpected frontrunner in the presidential race is Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a product of Kelaniya University, who celebrated his 55th birthday just a week ago, on November 24. Some surveys are pitching him as a possible winner with just over 51 percent of the votes. His protagonists, however, counter it with a mathematical theory. They say the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) won only 3.1% at the 2019 presidential election. Therefore, they argue, he would have to record a 1500% increase in votes.

“Politics is not mathematics. It is a social science. It may not sound realistic mathematically but according to social science it is possible,” counters Dissanayake, the JVP leader. Like the social change he expects, the JVP, which is the key player in the National People’s Power (NPP), he says, has changed in keeping with a new era. Until 1990s, there were two blocs—the socialists and the capitalists. We came from the former. Thereafter the world became United States centric. There are other powerful nations like China, Russia, India, and Europe. There is the Middle East. Therefore, we needed to change.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Times, Anura Kumara Dissanayake answered questions posed to him. Here are edited excerpts:

Q: In the backdrop of a difficult and challenging environment where the country remains bankrupt, the President has come up with a budget. What are your thoughts?

A: We have faced two issues. The Treasury could not raise the required rupee revenue and the country failed to earn the dollar revenue. We failed to earn the required dollars because we import some of the items which could be produced here. The other reason is we have failed to capture developed markets and services. We need an economic plan. We need a policy on substitutes for imports. We need a plan to capture developed markets and services in the world. But we do not see that plan in budget proposals. For the Treasury to raise revenue the goods and services should be increased. Without improving goods and services we cannot raise the revenue. We do not see any proposals towards achieving this.

I can cite some examples. The small and medium-scale businesses had collapsed. The government should have collected the information on these businesses through the Divisional Secretaries and found a solution. We do not see such a solution in the budget. The construction industry has suffered a major setback. There is no solution offered to salvage the construction industry. There is no concession for the multiday trawler fishermen who suffer losses. The coconut industry is another sector. We believe the production is not sufficient. We should have targets which could be achieved. Milk production is another area as the production is insufficient.

Again, in the service sector such as the IT industry we need to have a plan to enter the market. But we don’t have a plan. Therefore, President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s budget has no solutions. He believes that he could offer giveaways and gain votes. He has offered a salary increase for 1.3 million public sector employees, offered an increase of pensions for 700,000 pensioners and Aswesuma beneficiaries for another two million families. Therefore, it is clear he is collecting votes. The budget does not have any solution to come out from the present crisis.

Another main crisis the government is facing is in the power and energy sector. The Kelanitissa and Kerawalapitiya power stations and the new station at Kerawalapitiya collectively could produce 1000 MW. Diesel and naptha are being used but they can be converted to natural gas. A unit can be provided at Rs 32. There should be a plan for that.