Opposition targets foundation of NPP government

by Vishvanath

What made the NPP’s three electoral wins in a row possible was its successful propaganda drive, which effectively divided politicians and political parties into two camps, vilified those in the rival group as crooks, giving the electorate a choice between good governance and kakistocracy (government by the worst). A resentful public, who had an extremely low opinion of the past governments, which they blame for their hardships, chose to give the NPP a chance, and helped bring about last year’s regime change. It is now the NPP’s turn to be under the microscope, and there are signs of its support base, consisting mostly of floating voters that the NPP—as opposed to the JVP—attracted in large numbers—disintegrating if the outcome of the May 06 local government elections is any indication.

The NPP government’s performance on the economic front has not been as impressive as expected. It has been continuing with the economic policies of the previous government and the IMF programme, which requires it to curtail its expenditure and boost its revenue. The NPP has been able to retain its appeal to the public, albeit not at the pre-general election level, by flaunting its good governance credentials and taking legal action against those who indulged in corruption during previous governments. The Opposition, which is all out to make a comeback, has targeted the very foundation of the NPP—the latter’s commitment to good governance.

 The Opposition has levelled various allegations against the ministers of the NPP government. It has claimed that the NPP benefits from the largesse of the wealthy rice millers, who have stood to gain from increases in the maximum retail prices of rice, and a 65-rupee special commodity levy imposed on imported rice to prevent it being sold at cheaper rates. Opposition politicians and their propagandists insist that the government has used the local salt shortage to allow some of its cronies to import salt, process it and make a killing. They have named names, but the government has denied the allegation. Minister of Trade Wasantha Samarasinghe has been heard lamenting the unusually high prices of salt, which he has said can be priced below Rs. 90 a kilo. However, salt continues to sell at more than Rs. 300 a kilo, according to resentful consumers.

Scandals that rock governments buoy their political opponents. The NPP government has had to defend itself against an intensive campaign by its rivals against the release of as many as 323 shipping containers without Customs checks from the Colombo Port in January 2025 allegedly at the behest of a powerful minister. The Customs have sought to make light of the issue by claiming that they usually release containers in that manner to ease port congestion, and there was no government pressure for them to green-channel the containers in question. The clarification by the Customs has given rise to more questions, and provided ammunition to the Opposition.

The government has called in the CID to probe the container controversy. The CID summoned two prominent Opposition politicians, MP Dayasiri Jayasekra and former MP Udaya Gammanpila to record their statements on the allegation. The fact that it has summoned the whistleblowers instead of the minister concerned, has enabled the Opposition to play the victim card and claim that the government has launched a witch-hunt against it. Jayasekera and Gamanpila have asked the government not to shoot the messenger.

The Opposition has also claimed that a government move to increase the special commodity levy on imported sugar, purportedly for the sake of the local sugar manufacturers, who cannot dispose of their stocks, will benefit the pro-government sugar importers whose warehouses are already full; they will be able to sell the sugar at higher prices. Opposition politicians and the rights groups who have taken up the cudgels for the local sugar producers including the state-owned Lanka Sugar Company, have claimed importers are hoarding sugar in a bid to profiteer.

While the NPP government is trying to gain political mileage out of an increase in the momentum of anti-corruption probes against the Opposition politicians, some of whom have also been arrested, the Opposition has fired another salvo. It has accused President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of giving a presidential pardon to a fraudster in the Anuradhapura Prison on the occasion of Vesak, last month. The President’s Office lost no time in denying the allegation, and claiming that someone unlawfully released the fraudster, whose name was not on the list submitted to the President for approval. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been tasked with conducting a probe into the incident and preliminary investigations have led to the arrest of the Anuradhapura Prisons Superintendent and the interdiction of the Prisons Chief. Some more arrests are likely to be made.

Perhaps, the government will be able to prove its claim that the release of the fraudster was engineered by someone in the Prisons Department. But the Opposition is bound to make many more allegations in time to come.

The cumulative impact of allegations, substantiated or otherwise, takes its toll on a government only when its popularity takes a dip. Towards the tail end of the UPFA government in 2014, all allegations against the leaders of that administration went down well with the public. The common presidential candidate of the Opposition, Maithripala Sirisena, went to the extent of making some absurd claims; he said that the Rajapaksas had bought a ‘golden horse’ from Buckingham Palace and kept it in Nuwara Eliya, where young members of the ruling family flew in government choppers to ride it and return to Colombo on the same day! Sirisena won the presidency. In the run-up to last year’s presidential election, the NPP accused the SLPP leaders of having smuggled a planeload of dollars to Uganda, and promised to bring back the stolen money. The public was so resentful that such claims and promises helped the NPP garner votes and ensure its leader Dissanayake’s victory in the presidential race.

The only way the government can thwart its political rivals’ persistent efforts to turn public opinion against it is to remain above board, live up to the people’s expectations by carrying out its election pledges and ameliorating their economic woes.