Dinesh Gunawardena, who is seventy -two years old, is the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. DPR leaders in parliament took an oath as a PM on Friday.He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education in the previous Gotabaya-Mahinda government.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe who faced a fierce public opposition to his improvement as head of state could go for the national government if all political parties agreed to join. If that happens, he might appoint a new prime minister later.
A Sri Lanka political supporter, Gunawardena is known for being simple. He is a close trust in the Prime Minister who was overthrown by Mahinda Rajapaksa, and as a joint opposition leader, he guarded the opposition flags of high flying during the Maithripala Sirisena and Wickremesinghe regime between 2015 and 2019. With the uniqueness of fate, he is now the main between 2015 and 2019. The Minister. Sri Lanka under President Ranil Wickremesinghe which he opposed for decades.
Educated in the United States and the Netherlands, Dinesh Gunawardena is a union leader and a ferocious fighter like his legendary father Philip Gunawardena, known as the father of socialism in Sri Lanka.
Philip Gunawardena’s love for India and efforts towards freedom against the imperialist occupation began in the early 1920s in the US.
He is a classmate Jayaprakash Narayan and VK Krishna Menon at the University of Wisconsin where he advocated the freedom of imperialism in American politics, and then led the Indian anti-imperialist league in London.
But not many people know that his family has a close relationship with India and the whole family has a strong pro-Indian tendency.
The father of Prime Minister Philip and Mrs. Kusuma had slipped to India after escaping from Sri Lanka (at that time a British colony, Ceylon) during the Second World War.
They have joined underground activists who struggle for freedom and avoid arrest for some time. In 1943, both of them were arrested by British intelligence who kept it in Jalan Arthur Prison in Bombay. After one year, they were deported to Sri Lanka and released only after the end of the war.
This is a matter of great pride for him as Philip, Robert, and Kusuma all took part in the struggle of Indian freedom and went to prison in Bombay. Their relationship with India began almost one hundred years ago to free South Asia from Raj England.
India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited their family’s home in Sri Lanka to personally thanked them for their unmavated support for the Indian freedom and their personal sacrifice.
After Sri Lanka gained independence from England in 1948, both Philip and Kusuma later became members of parliament. Philip was the leader of the Founder and Cabinet Minister of the Government of the People’s Revolution in 1956. The four children also held high political positions, including the Mayor of Colombo, Cabinet Minister, Members of Parliament, etc.
Dinesh Gunawardena, who has a clean image like his parents, has been a strong cabinet minister for more than 22 years, arguing for a better relationship with India.
Culturally, socially, historically and even in the mythological aspects, India has been the closest neighbor of Sri Lanka for thousands of years and it is important to maintain excellent relationships. There are many things to do in the coming days, say some close colleagues.Sri Lanka in great chaos and Gunawardena might not be able to do anything that will leave his tracks.
