By Roger Srivasan
Date: October 2025
Author’s Note: This edition reflects the growing national unity and confidence under the National People’s Power (NPP) government. It highlights the administration’s unprecedented popularity among the Tamil community in the North and its genuine commitment to anti-racist governance, equality, and inclusive development. The essay offers an optimistic yet balanced portrait of a nation redefining patriotism through justice and integrity.
After decades of disillusionment, deceit, and division, Sri Lanka once again finds herself at a moral and political crossroads. The rise of the National People’s Power (NPP) government has rekindled hope in a nation long fatigued by corruption and sectarianism. For years politicians waxed eloquent about purging the nation of the drug menace, yet their resolve never rose above a velleity. The first year of this administration has revealed not a miracle, but something rarer — a disciplined restoration of integrity in public life. Gone is the era of impunity when power was a licence for plunder. The new dispensation has shown that honesty, diligence, and thrift can govern a nation as effectively as cunning and deceit once did.
Governance and Accountability
No transformation is ever complete, yet the signs are unmistakable. Ministries once notorious for patronage now function under audit, transparency, and merit. The President’s emphasis on probity has percolated through the ranks, signalling that governance is no longer a theatre of privilege but a service to the people. Reform is not rhetoric — it is visible in procurement, appointments, and the re-awakening of civic conscience. The nation, for the first time in memory, is being re-governed rather than merely ruled.
Equality and Inclusion
Perhaps the most profound departure from the past lies in the NPP government’s unwavering commitment to equality among all races and communities. For too long, unity was preached but never practised; the word reconciliation was brandished at international forums while discrimination thrived at home. That hypocrisy has ended. Racism is no longer policy, nor pretext — it is an offence against the Republic. Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim, and Burgher citizens now stand on an equal constitutional footing, not as concessions to diversity but as affirmations of a single national identity. “This is not a government of one race ruling over another,” as one minister aptly put it, “but of all Sri Lankans reclaiming the Republic together.” Such a philosophy is not cosmetic; it is the cornerstone of modern nationhood.
Justice, Devolution, and Healing
Healing the wounds of the past requires more than token gestures. The NPP administration recognises that reconciliation cannot be legislated — it must be lived. The return of land, the right to remembrance, and the representation of minorities in decision-making bodies signal a government willing to listen rather than lecture. In provinces long alienated from Colombo, the language of governance has changed: from suspicion to trust, from surveillance to inclusion. What once was an ethnic frontier is slowly becoming a national bridge.
Economic Reform and the Moral Economy
Economically, Sri Lanka continues to tread a narrow path between austerity and compassion. The government’s fiscal discipline, its insistence on transparent borrowing and domestic productivity, has restored confidence among international partners. Yet the heart of reform lies not in balance sheets but in ethics: the refusal to mortgage sovereignty for survival. Reform without relief is cruelty; relief without reform is folly. The NPP’s approach blends both — a steady hand that tempers efficiency with empathy.
External Relations and Geopolitical Poise
In foreign policy, the government has adopted a principled pragmatism — neither subservient to any bloc nor hostile to any partner. The island’s renewed outreach to the West, balanced engagement with India, and pragmatic dealings with China reflect a sovereign maturity absent for decades. This recalibration of diplomacy underscores a simple truth: Sri Lanka’s strength lies not in choosing sides, but in standing tall.
Water, Environment, and National Responsibility
The NPP’s environmental stewardship marks another quiet revolution. Programmes on water security, renewable energy, and waste management are no longer ceremonial slogans but tangible national missions. In a country where water has too often divided communities, it is now a symbol of shared survival — pure, equitable, and accessible to all. Water security is paramount in ensuring sustainable access to adequate quantities and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production.
Public Confidence and the Northern Reawakening
The government’s inclusive policies are beginning to reshape not only public discourse but also electoral realities. Based on the current trajectory, the NPP is poised to secure an overwhelming victory in the forthcoming elections, sweeping nearly all seats that are up for contest. What is most remarkable is the surge of support from the Tamil-majority North, a region long estranged from Colombo’s politics. This transformation is not the product of propaganda but of performance — visible fairness, equitable development, and genuine engagement with local communities. For the first time in decades, the North no longer feels like a political outpost; it feels part of the Republic’s beating heart. The NPP’s message of integrity and equality has transcended old divides, converting scepticism into solidarity.
A Republic Reawakened
Sri Lanka’s journey is far from over. The remnants of corruption, the inertia of bureaucracy stifling innovations, and the scars of past injustice still linger. Yet for the first time in a generation, the moral direction of the state is correct. The government’s commitment to treat all races as equal, its genuine anti-racist policies, and its intolerance of graft have redefined patriotism as public virtue. “The ballot was not a blank cheque but a moral covenant,” as the President remarked. “We must now prove that decency can govern.” If that covenant is honoured, Sri Lanka will not merely recover — she will renew herself, rising as a model of how integrity and inclusion can rebuild a wounded nation.
Public discourse is central to a democratic society enabling citizens to voice concerns, consider different perspectives and hold the leaders accountable. Today, the tide has unmistakably turned. After decades in which corruption and narcotics flourished under political patronage, a new era of accountability has dawned. Sri Lanka has long been a fertile ground for the drug menace, where drug barons-once operating with the furtive blessings of politicians-are now skedaddling as the NPP government systematically annihilated their operations and hideouts.