The Hon. Asitha Niroshana Egoda Vithana

¶ 01 Before a social movement can take root and stabilize in this country, before a truly democratic government can consolidate itself, how do some try to undermine it? By spreading notions like “they have no experience; they are not mature” and attempting from the very first parliamentary phase to sow confusion in this House.

¶ 02 We know how some political parties encourage grassroots loyalists saying, “Don’t be afraid; give it six months. It will overturn in six months.” That was the parliamentary conduct we witnessed recently.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, earlier a Hon. Member tried to attribute a view to me by flashing a headline from the Daily Mirror while the content actually said something else. They attempted to mislead the House by showing only the headline. Some seated in the opposition front row are heads of media institutions. In their outlets and associated tabloids, they unleash outrageous falsehoods, weaponizing their media to kill the truth of our politics, and to weaken this Government as much as possible. That is the real relationship among some parties; hence the rapid socialization of disinformation.

¶ 04 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, on 21 September this country elected a President to govern a state facing a colossal crisis. On 14 November a Government was formed. So, it is about three months since the President assumed office, and about two months since we formed the Government. Some MPs who held up Ranil Wickremesinghe as the great hope to “build the country in 2048” now ask why the country was not rebuilt in 48 days, hunting for red raw rice. Those who once wrote letters to obtain electricity from the CEB for their political ally’s wedding—running up a Rs. 3.6 million bill—now search for red raw rice.

¶ 05 They bankrupted the country, emptied the Treasury, drove people to despair so severe that they wanted to flee; passports could not be printed quickly enough to match the exodus. They dragged our beloved nation to that shame, and now after 48 days they ask if the country is rebuilt—those are the very flames we face today.

¶ 06 We know the stock market is not the sole proof of economic strength. But it is a sensitive indicator. After the election, the opposition spread wild, sacrilegious lies to push the All Share Index down to 10,000. Within three months, it rose to 16,000. That did not happen by accident; it happened because of rebuilt political confidence and the example set by a President, a Prime Minister, and a Government untainted by fraud and corruption.

¶ 07 They said the IMF would run away once we took office; they spun tales that the market would crash like a bomb hit the World Trade Centre. Nothing of the sort happened. Some so‑called economists who claimed the IMF would walk away within two weeks after we took office have been proven wrong. Through pragmatic politics, by flexibly aligning with public sentiment and managing expectations, we are meeting this unprecedented challenge. The stock market’s rise is not a bubble; it is built on political confidence.

¶ 08 We have our own challenge: indicators will show improvement by year‑end, but our task is to ensure that economic gains also improve human development. Around the world, poverty, hunger, and inequality spread fast. Our challenge is to deliver growth that lifts people’s lives. When economies collapse, everyone suffers; but when economies rise, benefits too often go to a small minority. No political group has yet solved that hardest problem; we are intervening to find that answer. The President has proposed special initiatives: “Clean Sri Lanka,” “State Digitalization,” and “Eradicating Rural Poverty.” I will briefly touch on these.

¶ 09 Within “Clean Sri Lanka,” we have a series of plans for Colombo District. Battaramulla is the administrative city and home to this Parliament—tens of thousands come here daily. Yet past rulers did not even build a basic bus stand here, or proper public toilets near the Passport Office where people queue late into the night. However, under leaders like Hon. D. V. Chanaka’s former party leadership, 1,008 perches along Denzil Kobbekaduwa Mawatha were allocated for the CSN channel; and 100 perches for the politically moribund Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Land was allocated as private fiefdoms for parties and cronies, while not an inch was set aside for a public bus stand. We moved at the Kaduwela Development Committee to cancel those deals and decide immediately to create a bus terminal for the people.

¶ 10 This iconic Parliament was designed by the great Geoffrey Bawa, including the sports ground in front. We saw children playing there—the nation’s future. After the war, presidents of the government that Hon. D. V. Chanaka represented stopped children from using that ground. We have requested the Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Construction to immediately reopen that ground for children. He has agreed.

¶ 11 Across the Diyawanna is the so‑called “Sandalwood Grove,” 15 acres planted with sandalwood from Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, expensively funded by the UDA, under guidance allegedly from “Gnanakka,” to cover up the failings of past rulers. That was the same Pelawatte children’s playground. We have requested that 4 acres be restored to children. To those who bankrupted the country now shamelessly seeking red raw rice—I say: free the Pelawatte ground for children.

¶ 12 I requested from the Parliament Research Division, and thereafter from the Ministry of Finance’s Public Enterprises Department, all agreements relating to the Oruwala Steel Corporation. They sent us the past agreement given to a South Korean company, “ChilKang,” but the agreement relating to the period when Nandana Lokuvithana took over Oruwala is not in the Finance Ministry. How can that be? The main sports ground for Kaduwela’s people—the Oruwala Steel Corporation Sports Ground—has been denied to children for over a decade. We will move via the Industry Ministry and the Kaduwela Coordinating Committee to return the Oruwala Sports Ground to the children of Kaduwela. Those who plundered public wealth now shed crocodile tears.

¶ 13 Finally, I recall Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s words: “Dream is not that which you see while sleeping; it is something that does not let you sleep.” The NPP has a dream—to build a better life for our people who laboured and suffered for decades. We dream of making the dreams of our youth—whose hopes were once killed—come true; to uplift the lives of our mothers and sisters; to let children live their childhood without an oppressive educational burden; to build a better country for children born without privilege; and to ensure dignity for persons with disabilities. We will make these dreams real. The Opposition has no “Point of Order” that can stop us.

¶ 14 Thank you.