Sri Lanka, Sept. 20 -- President Anura Kumara Dissanayake marks one year in office tomorrow (21). His ascension to the highest office in the land was a seismic shift in local politics. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the National People's Power (NPP) were always regarded as the third force in local politics, behind the United National party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and their various avatars.

But the impetus for the unprecedented political transition of the NPP from the political margins to the corridors of power was the Aragalaya (Struggle), a people's movement that rose almost spontaneously from the acute economic crisis of 2022. The Aragalaya led to an awakening among the masses that the elite political class t...