The Maha Jana Handa at Nugegoda, cyclone destruction, and contenders positioning for power in post-NPP Sri Lanka - II

During his rousing speech, Harin Fernando anticipated SLPP national organiser Namal Rajapaksa's straightforward declaration of his resolve to end the JVP/NPP regime as soon as possible.

- BY ROHANA R. WASALA

The latter's battle cry might have sounded premature even to some of his less attentive fellow members of the SLPP who failed to catch his meaning. It is possible that Harin delivered a preemptive strike at what he felt was Namal's overweening presidential ambition (by making a facial gesture, before leaving the speaker stand, that suggested contempt at the latter's goal). What Namal expressed was his desire and determination to bring down a poorperforming government that, he believed, was causing great harm to the country through ignorance, inexperience, and arrogance of the men and women who were running it.

Harin was criticised in Parliament by Wimal Weerawansa MP, in February 2024 during Ranil Wickremesinghe's presidency, for having casually stated during an interview with an Indian TV channel, as newly appointed Tourism minister then, that Sri Lanka was a part of India! Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha's recent remark at the Colombo YMBA's 'Light of Asia' Centenary Celebrations (December 6, 2025) that “ ... India and Sri Lanka are connected not only by geography but by deeper bonds of culture .... " could be read as a matter of fact allusion to a sinister assumption that Harin's 'casual' statement probably purposefully expressed. It is also significant that Harin was appointed by the UNP as its Deputy Secretary General of Political Mobilisation with immediate effect on October 21, 2025. His new responsibilities include uniting all political parties in the country and engaging them in a common programme, in addition to which he will be coordinating the many meetings that are to be organised by the UNP. Harin's new post seems to match Namal's position as the national organiser of the SLPP.