In the elections held last week for the 9th Executive President of Sri Lanka, the National People’s Power had put forward pro-people policies emphasizing the interests of the people and succeeded in having its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake elected and sworn in as President.
The basis of this victory can be seen as the culmination of the wave of the Aragalaya popular struggle that was transformed into votes of the toiling masses. This voting has eliminated has side-lined the traditional ruling class forces from the stage of executive power. Hence the New Democratic Marxist Leninist Party considers the people who voted in anticipation of structural changes, Anura Kumara Dissanayake who was elected President thereby, and the National People’s Power are deserving of praise and welcome.
Besides, although the country has nominally freed itself from colonial rule, it is still a country in neo-colonial stranglehold. As a result of it, the country and the people had been pushed into a grave political, economic and social crisis. The resources of the country and the toil of the people have been wrung by foreign powers with the consent and support of local capitalist forces with feudal roots that held state power. Although there were struggles against it, they were frustrated by the ruling classes. Those who came to power in the name of Sinhala Buddhist national sentiment bowed to the upper class elite and foreign imperialist powers and wrecked the interests of the country and the livelihood of the people. To conceal it and divert the attention of the people from it, the local ruling classes and foreign imperialist and regional hegemonic forces developed the national question into enmity and hostile contradictions among nationalities, and thereby served their class interests. As a culmination of the process, the country was subject to a grave political and economic crisis and propelled into bankruptcy. The livelihood of the people hit rock bottom.
Aragalaya was the surge of popular struggle that was born amid this climate of crisis and drove out the then rulers from the arena of political power. But that uprising was deflected by foreign imperialist and regional hegemonic forces to place Ranil Wickremesinghe once more in power through the back door and hold on to power for two years.
It is as delivering a counter blow to that the people have brought the National People’s Power to power by electing Anura Kumara Dissanayake President. Hence the New Democratic Marxist Leninist Party emphasizes the importance of the need to find a just solution to the national question while acting to find proper solutions to the severe economic crises faced by the people.
At the same time New Democratic Marxist Leninist Party assures that it will be firmly on the side of the people, the interests of the country and its nationalities in opposing the ruling local reactionary forces and the foreign imperialist and regional hegemonic forces that inspire them to oppose whatever steps that may be taken to uphold national interests and take pro-people measures.
The Party also affirms that it will join hands with the people to support whatever just actions taken by the new government and oppose whatever ids anti-people.
SK Senthivel
General Secretary, New Democratic Marxist Leninist Party