Progressive or retrogressive? Rationally defining AKD’s Presidency and NPP Government

'...estimated income poverty... remains stubbornly high, affecting as much as a quarter of the population in 2024, and twice as high as in 2021. The reversal in poverty reduction gains during the crisis has taken Sri Lanka back to its high poverty levels of the early 2000s...' -ODI-CEPA Report Executive Summary p vi '...post crisis mass poverty level, [is] estimated to be 7-10 million individuals.' ODI-CEPA Report p 16. (https://odi.org/documents/9616/ODI_Global_Sustaining_transformative_growth in Sri Lanka_20252030.pdf)

- By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

How do you tell 'progressive' from 'reactionary'? How do you tell liberal democrats from conservatives/neoconservatives? How do you tell Left — any kind of left, from social democratic to radical and revolutionary— from 'Right'?

While there are many definitions of progressive and reactionary, left and right, a common factor underlies them all. Those on the left or the progressive side of the spectrum, place emphasis on the Social Question, the question of social upliftment, according priority to the problem of poverty and providing solutions which uplift the poor.

You can tell a progressive from a reactionary or a conservative administration by the priority accorded to reducing poverty and the results being achieved. If government X makes more progress in alleviating poverty than government Y, then the former is more progressive than the latter. If there is less progress in poverty reduction, then it is less progressive.

What of a government that calls itself progressive, pro-people and even 'left populist', but the statistics show that it has not made any progress in reducing the numbers and burdens of the poor? What do you call a leader and a government on whose watch, poverty has not merely NOT been reduced but has grown? What do you call a President and an administration which describe themselves as progressive, but has recorded worse poverty figures than leaders and governments which have not been designated as on the left, and have been denounced as rightist/neoliberal?