By Is AKD left ,right or lost ?
Professor Yanapala and Professor Tharkasena sat at a dimly lit table in the old pub, their glasses half-full, their voices growing louder as the night went on. They were debating one thing: Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s (AKD) changing politics.
“I’m telling you,” Professor Yanapala insisted, tapping the table, “AKD and the NPP are shifting to the right. They started as revolutionaries, shouting about Marxism and fighting for the working class. But now? They’re talking about debt restructuring and working with the IMF. That’s not the JVP we knew!”
Professor Tharkasena shook his head. “That’s called practical politics. Syriza in Greece did the same thing. You can’t run a country with just slogans. Look at Taiwan—Chiang Kai-shek started as a socialist, then turned capitalist. This is how leaders survive.”
Yanapala scoffed. “Survive? Or betray their roots? The people voted for change, not compromise. If AKD keeps this up, the real leftists will leave him. Just like what happened to Syriza.”
Tharkasena stood up “And where will they go? The Rajapaksas? The UNP? There’s no other option! AKD is playing the long game—he knows you can’t fix a country overnight.”
The pub owner, an old man who had seen too many of these debates, finally stepped in. “Gentlemen,” he said, “it’s past closing time. You’ll have to continue this another day.”
The two professors looked at each other. Neither had won the argument. They picked up their coats, still muttering as they walked out into the night, the question left unanswered.
