• Urges scrapping of traditional party rivalries/ideologies 

The people not having been adequately connected to the national economy is one of the main issues that Sri Lanka is facing, and in reviving the country, it is crucial to support the people to become a part of the economy, especially when it comes to sectors such as agriculture and groups such as the youth, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and National People’s Power (NPP) Leader and Opposition Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake stressed.

This was, during the NPP’s main May Day rally held in Colombo yesterday (1 May), where Dissanayake spoke about the NPP’s future plans which, among others, involve getting various groups to join the NPP’s plans relating to economic revival. As the country’s economy revives, he said, its outcomes should be equitably, not equally, shared among those that supported it. He observed that it is in such a context that businesses will thrive, the youth will have jobs, and the people will have access to food, education and health. He opined that ushering in a new era in a modern Sri Lanka requires collective efforts, in which inter-party issues will have little significance. In this quest, he said, the first step should be doing away with traditional party rivalries and ideologies.

“We should create Sri Lanka’s biggest people’s movement, in order to bring in a new era. The NPP is not a party that has been built against other parties or persons. This is the greatest people’s movement that changes the country, with the representation of all groups.”

Describing the NPP’s election plans, he said that the NPP has surrounded itself with various groups that have the potential to contribute to economic progress, including lawyers, women, engineers, retired defence forces personnel, religious leaders, and expatriates. According to him, the NPP is making plans to hold a large-scale engineers’ conference in Colombo on 01 July, and a large-scale Buddhist monks’ conference by the end of July. He noted that women’s involvement is an essential factor for political change.

In addition to the main rally in Colombo, NPP May Day rallies were held in Anuradhapura, Jaffna and Matara.