After one full year out of power, sections of the parliamentary opposition in our country are attempting to join hands to oppose the year old National People’s Power (NPP) government. Today, November 21, a number of these political parties have called for a joint rally demanding that government fulfils the plethora of election promises it made in the run-up to the November 2024 general election.
Let’s face it; the government has failed to implement most of its election promises.
It promised to redraft the agreement signed by past president Ranil Wickremasinghe’s regime with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).It has failed to lower the cost of living by any considerable level to help the poorer sections of this country. Additionally, the government promised in the budget to allocate large sum of money to increase the wages of Up Country Tamil estate population.
That again is just another promise until those poor workers receive the cash into their hands.
The NPP government also promised to bring in sufficient quantities of medicinal drugs to ensure patients are not left to the mercies of big pharmaceutical companies. Yet we hear doctors of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) warning of shortages of essential drugs for cancer treatment as well as many other deadly illnesses. Government doctors who actively canvassed to bring in the present regime into power have now taken trade union action to force the government into attending to shortages faced by the health sector.
Key findings of UNICEF in 2025, show that malnutrition continues to affect children, with approximately one in four under-five-year-olds not growing as they should. The report adds that one in six babies are born with low birth weight. The obvious conclusion is that the economic crisis has made it harder for families to access adequate healthy food.
But on one of its pre-election promises, the government is pushing ahead rigorously -one of which is its promised anti-corruption drive. Today, large numbers of corrupt government officials have been charged under Bribery and Corruption legislation. Many are in remand custody while large numbers of others are under investigation.
Ministers, Deputy Ministers and even the immediate past president of the country have been charged for corrupt practices. Big time criminal and drug lords have been arrested and remain in remand custody. The ‘podi something ekkak’ demanded by public officials, and their political masters have now became a thing of the past. It seems no corrupt official is safe.
The remanding of ex-president Wickremesinghe brought the fractured opposition together, not the suffering of the common people. It was during that time that the need for a joint opposition was first seriously discussed. However nothing really came of it, with the largest party in opposition -the Samagi Jana Balawegaya — refusing to join in the alliance. In the absence of the SJB, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is giving leadership to effort to unite the opposition, but it has not drawn the mainstream political parties into its fold.
Neither the regional parties of the north and east, nor the parties representing Upcountry Tamils or the Muslim community are involved in the attempts to jointly oppose government policies. But a more dangerous foe seems to be raising its head.
Last week, an ethno-religious incident broke out in Trincomalee over the shifting of a Buddha statue away from where it had been newly put up. Had a Hindu or Christian statue been shifted away from its pedestal by some government authority, it would have scarcely raised an eyebrow countrywide. Sadly, even the Leader of the Opposition was dragged into the incident in parliament, and raised the issue in the House.
To make a bad situation worse, a monk known for his racist attitudes, one who has led mobs inciting them to violence against the Muslim community, Rushed to the tension-filled area and made a fiery speech warning all and sundry of the repercussions of those opposing the will of the Sinhala Buddhists. Fortunately, quick government action defused the situation which could have turned violent. The government needs to take these rabble rousers to task immediately.
None must be allowed to take the country down the communal path once again. A joint opposition, if one can be formed someday, must ensure they are not used by divisive figures whose only aim is to gain personally off divisions they create among our people.
