Left leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has registered a big victory in the presidential election of Sri Lanka. Dissanayake is a supporter of Marxism and Leninism and it is believed that he will be inclined towards China. In such a situation, India may have to face a challenge from another neighbor. But he has been serious about India’s security earlier also and he had said that he will not let anything tamper with India’s security. Recently, anti-India wave has been seen even after the change of power in Bangladesh. The new interim government supported by the army does not seem to be successful in establishing relations with India like before. During the election campaign itself, Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake was talking about cancelling Adani’s project. However, the change of power in Sri Lanka is not as big a challenge for India as the political turmoil in Bangladesh.
India’s High Commissioner Santosh Jha was the first to congratulate the newly elected President Dissanayake. He said that countries with similar cultures are committed to mutual cooperation and increasing the prosperity of both countries. On Monday, 55-year-old Dissanayake will take oath as President and will become the first leftist President of Sri Lanka. In the last election of 2019, his party got only 3 percent votes. However, this time he has won a big victory with 42.31 percent votes.
India believed that if Ranil Wickremesinghe or Premadasa wins, relations will be better. Their victory would make it easier for India on the security front in the Indian Ocean. Despite the anti-India stance of Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party, India had invited him in February. Dissanayake’s popularity among the youth had increased significantly after the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval met him in New Delhi.
During his visit to India, Disanayake visited the Amul plant in Gujarat. It was being said that Amul is planning to acquire several dairy companies of Sri Lanka. India’s priority is to take care of the Indian-origin Tamil community living in Sri Lanka and to fully implement the 13th amendment of the 1987 constitution. Apart from this, Indian fishermen should be treated more humanely. Apart from this, it is also important that Sri Lanka, under bilateral agreements with India, restricts the use of ports related to India’s interests for China.
Experts also say that Disanayake’s relations with China could be better. However, recently Disanayake had said that he would not allow his sea, land, airspace and ports to be used by any country that challenges India’s security. He had also said that he would cancel the wind power project of Adani Group because it violates Sri Lanka’s energy sovereignty.
Disanayake had also said a big thing about Chinese projects in front of Indian officials. He had said that there is a lack of transparency in many Chinese projects. For example, corruption is rampant in Hambantota and Colombo Port projects. An official said that it seems that Disanayake’s focus is on transparency and eliminating corruption. He is not in the mood to cancel any project. However, improving it is his priority.
Disanayake’s party has been opposing the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord. However, it is also true that apart from Premadasa, even Wickremesinghe was not in favour of fully implementing it. Disanayake has definitely said that he will make such changes in the constitution that will help in establishing peace in the future.
