New Delhi: The new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Harini Amarasuriya, appointed on Tuesday, has a deep India connection. A college professor and politician, the 54-year-old National People’s Power (NPP) leader, Amarasuriya completed her undergraduate degree in sociology from Hindu College, Delhi.
The iconic Hindu College has produced top actors, bureaucrats, crickets, and legal luminaries but it’s the first time in its 125-year-old history that an alumna has become the head of a state.
“We are delighted to hear that a Hinduite is now the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. It is a proud moment for the Hindu College family. A student of sociology at Hindu College between 1991 and 1994, she is an extremely accomplished academic and politician,” Hindu College principal Anju Srivastava said in a Hindustan Times report.
“We hope that her time at Hindu College helped set her up for all her future successes. Our college has a long history of a parliamentary system, wherein we elect a prime minister and leader of opposition each year – and her appointment at this esteemed position is a proud milestone in this storied history,” she added.
Amarasuriya is the 16th, and only the third woman, prime minister of Sri Lanka.
Hailing from Colombo, she continued her education with a master’s degree in applied anthropology in Australia. She obtained a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh.
Former lecturer of sociology at Hindu College, Suranjan Sinha, who taught Amarasuriya, recalled, “Harini was there, in the early 90s, when I took the vocation. I have vivid memories of Harini, a bright and articulate student… I did use references to modern music, novels, films and so on, in some of my lectures in those days… Harini gave me this audiotape, a compilation of Pearl Jam songs that she had curated… I remember that moment very clearly,” he said.