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. On November 21, a number of these political parties have called for a joint rally demanding government fulfil 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 the past president 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. At the last budget government promised to allocate a large sum of money to increase the wages of the 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 mercy of big pharmaceutical companies. Yet we hear doctors of the government, 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 the shortages faced by the health sector.
Key findings of UNICEF in 2025 show 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 is 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 or two of its pre-election promises 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.
Former Ministers, Deputy Ministers and even the immediate past president of the country have been charged with corrupt practices. Big-time criminals and drug lords have been arrested and remain in remand custody. The ‘podi something ekak’ demanded by public officials, and their political masters has now become 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, the need for a joint opposition was first seriously discussed. However, nothing really came of it, with the largest opposition party -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 the 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 the 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 dragged the incident into parliament and raised the issue in the House.
To make a bad situation worse, a monk known for his racist attitudes and one who has led mobs which led to violence against the Muslim community, decided to involve himself in the incident. Rushing to the tension-filled area, he made a fiery speech warning all and sundry of the repercussions of those opposing the will of the Sinala Buddhist people.
Fortunately, quick government action defused the situation, which could have turned violent and set the people of this country against each other based on language, race and religion. 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 that they are not used by divisive figures whose only aim is to gain personally from the divisions they create among our people.
