Insight By Sunil Kumar for Lankaweb

In a sudden and overwhelming sweep the recent past of turmoil and anguish seems to have been overcome as the JVP under Anura Kumara Dissanayaka from humble beginnings albeit a resolute campaigner who seems to have swayed the minds of an overwhelming majority has taken office as the new Executive President and his powerful language full of promise and hope for a struggling Nation has been responded to where many past demons appear to have been overcome  in the minds of many and a possible new dawn beckons the recently ailing Nation.

The results were tense and of a teetering nature as it shifted from Sajith Premadasa to Anura Kumara but never in doubt as who would be the winner and today a calming wind seems to have swept Sri Lanka with perhaps a sigh of relief for many whose former dashed hopes of a contented and normal existence had all but vanished now has a kind of respite where they can hope again.

Curiously the former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has taken off on a “pilgrimage” to Nepal and many of the alleged perpetrators of Sri Lanka’s woes have all but quietened down, perhaps beaten into figurative submission through the enormity of the JVP win as the Nation to all intents and purposes begins rebuilding again with Dissanayake’s task an unenviable one albeit a possible one provided he charters the right course and receives the proper responses from all concerned  both internally and Globally where the forthcoming parliamentary elections will be a key and  decisive factor as the salutations and felicitations continue.

 Dissanayake’s foreign policy relations with world super powers, negotiations with the IMF and the implementation of strong local key issues which have been long neglected and outstanding towards the well being of the country, finances, security, interracial peace and harmony, availability of consumer goods at a reasonable price, a manageable cost of living and the appeasement of the ordinary man would be of prime importance towards his personal popularity as well as the keeping of many pledges made throughout his campaign which would test his mettle and increase his national popularity as well as the confidence the people have shown towards the huge mandate he has received as the old guard has changed like never before where confidence in a Marxist leader has never been the order of the day yet the circumstances within the Nation has so demanded it in a very unexpected and unprecedented manner. 

There has to be gratitude also to the outgoing President Ranil Wickremasinghe who weathered the worst economic storm in Sri Lanka’s history through his political, legal  and other expertise albeit his effort  perhaps not being recognized as sufficient for a second term which has its own interpretations towards the well being of the country which now rests firmly on the shoulders of the new President to whom many blessings and good wishes are extended towards the country’s future as the new beginning awaits her wearied people.