Tens of thousands of people gathered in the iconic Galle Face area of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo this May Day in a massive show of support for the new government of the National People’s Power (NPP) grouping, whose core is the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP – People’s Liberation Front), the country’s largest Marxist party.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and other party leaders were joined by representatives of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Addressing the rally, Peng Xiubin, Bureau Director General of the Communist Party of China’s International Department (IDCPC) said: “Six decades ago, your hands built the JVP. Over the years, you have kept fighting, making the JVP stronger and stronger, forming the National People’s Power. Eventually, last September, you won the presidential election, a new milestone in the history of Sri Lanka.
“Sri Lanka is China’s good neighbour, trusted brother, reliable partner. For 68 years of our diplomatic ties, we have worked hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, showing the world how our countries can thrive together. Now, with the JVP leading Sri Lanka, new opportunities arise for China-Sri Lanka ties.”
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said he hoped cooperation with China would help address rural poverty. “China has done tremendous work in this area and we want to get their expertise.”
State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Binoy Viswam said that at last year’s May Day rally, Dissanayake predicted that “the next year when we celebrate the May Day, it will be a victorious May Day for the people and the workers of the Sri Lankan country. That day has come.”
AR Sindhu, Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) said: “We proudly tell the people that, yes, Kerala [where the CPIM leads the state government] will follow the Sri Lankan way. Not only Kerala, the entire India will be following the Sri Lankan way.”
A short clip of the rally may be seen here.
Other political parties in Sri Lanka also held May Day rallies, including the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Communist Party of Sri Lanka and Frontline Socialist Party.
Following May Day, President Dissanayake paid a state visit to Vietnam, May 4-6.
The following articles were first published by the Press Trust of India (PTI) and Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Communist parties of India, China represented at Lanka’s ruling dispensation’s May Day rally
The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of China were both represented at the May Day rally held here by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s NPP on Thursday.
This is the first May Day celebration by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the mother party in the National People’s Power (NPP) broader front, after it came to power.
The party, founded in 1965, had led two rebellions to topple governments through armed revolution in the early 70s and late 80s.
Binoy Viswam of the Communist Party of India (CPI) pointed out how at last year’s May Day rally, Dissanayake predicted that “the next year when we celebrate the May Day, it will be a victorious May Day for the people and the workers of the Sri Lankan country. That day has come”.
Viswam said there were claims in the past that there is no alternative to capitalist system and that there is only one way, and that way is the way of the Americans, the way of the spoilers, the way of the capitalists.
“They said that’s the only way, no other alternative. They were wrong comrades, and we are right. Because we have proven that there is an alternative, and Sri Lanka has shown that way,” he said, praising the JVP government.
Peng Xiubin, Director General, Bureau of South and South East Asia Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said, “Six decades ago, your hands built the JVP. Over the years, you have kept fighting, making the JVP stronger and stronger, forming the national people’s power. Eventually, last September, you won the presidential election, a new milestone in the history of Sri Lanka”.
“Sri Lanka is China’s good neighbour, trusted brother, reliable partner. For 68 years of our diplomatic ties, we have worked hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, showing the world how our countries can thrive together. Now, with the JVP leading Sri Lanka, new opportunities arise for China-Sri Lanka ties,” he said.
Dissanayake also spoke on the occasion.
Sri Lanka vows closer ties with China and India’s left
Sri Lanka’s government pledged closer ties on Thursday (May 1) with Communist parties in China and India, two regional powers competing for influence in the small but strategically important nation.
The leftist government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake held its first May Day rally with special guests from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Communist parties in India.
CCP official Peng Xiubin told the mass rally in Colombo that his party had been working closely with Dissanayake’s JVP, or People’s Liberation Front.
“We will make China–Sri Lanka relations even stronger,” the Chinese official said.
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said he hoped cooperation with China would help address rural poverty.
“China has done tremendous work in this area and we want to get their expertise,” Silva said.
AR Sindhu, a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which governs India’s southern Kerala state, said they were drawing inspiration from the JVP’s rapid rise to power.
“We proudly tell the people that, yes, Kerala will follow the Sri Lankan way. Not only Kerala, the entire India will be following the Sri Lankan way,” Sindhu said.
The JVP, which held just three seats in the previous parliament, went on to win 159 – just over two-thirds – in the 225-member assembly at the November elections.
With the leftist Dissanayake in office, New Delhi has been concerned about Beijing’s growing influence in Sri Lanka, which India considers to be within its sphere of geopolitical influence.
Sri Lanka lies just south of India and is located at a halfway point along the main east-west international shipping lane, making it a strategic location in the Indian Ocean.
Dissanayake has been trying to balance relations with the two regional superpowers.
His first overseas visit was to India after coming to power following the September presidential election.
He then travelled to China, which is also the island’s largest single lender.
Beijing was the first to restructure its loans to Sri Lanka after the country declared a sovereign default in April 2022, following an acute shortage of foreign exchange that triggered an unprecedented economic meltdown.
India extended credit lines to help salvage the Sri Lankan economy after it declared bankruptcy three years ago.
