Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake (right) staged a scaled-down military march, in keeping with his pledge to pare lavish spending. - Photo: AFP
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s leftist president marked the anniversary of independence from Britain on Tuesday (Feb 4) with a pledge to change the impoverished island nation’s image as a “corrupt” country.
Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake dispensed with the usual elaborate military pageantry of jet flyovers and horse parades to mark the 1948 handover of power.
