No Citizen Ever Felt Third -Class Under NPP Government, Says Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya in London
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya declared in London that no citizen in Sri Lanka should ever feel like a “second-class or third-class citizen” under the National People’s Power administration, as she defended the government’s economic direction, reconciliation efforts, and social reforms during an address to the Sri Lankan community in Slough.
Addressing a packed gathering at Crystal Grand Hall on the 20th, the Prime Minister reflected on the scepticism that surrounded the rise of the National People’s Power government, noting that critics repeatedly questioned the capability and experience of the administration before it assumed office.
“Only four ministers in our government had previously held ministerial positions,” she told the audience. “Many predicted failure. They said the government lacked experience. But today the country is moving steadily forward.”
The Prime Minister presented what she described as signs of economic stabilisation and institutional discipline. According to her remarks, Sri Lanka’s economy has recorded growth close to 5 per cent in 2025, while the government is targeting stronger expansion in 2026. She stated that Sri Lanka’s per capita income had crossed the 5,000 US dollar mark for the first time in the nation’s history.
She further claimed that the agriculture, industrial, and services sectors had all shown growth momentum, with the industrial sector recording particularly strong expansion. Overseas remittances, she said, had increased significantly, strengthening the country’s external position alongside improvements in official reserves.
In a speech that blended economic confidence with political messaging, Prime Minister Harini insisted that fiscal discipline remained at the centre of the administration’s policy framework.
“The country cannot return to the old culture of reckless borrowing and uncontrolled spending,” she said. “We are rebuilding Sri Lanka with financial responsibility.”
She pointed to reductions in the budget deficit and improvements in the primary account balance as evidence that the administration was attempting to steer the country away from the economic instability that triggered the 2022 collapse.
The Prime Minister also defended the government’s crisis-management capability, referring to the aftermath of the devastating DITWA cyclone, which caused widespread destruction to homes, roads, and railway infrastructure.
According to her address, nearly 6,000 houses suffered damage, but relief assistance was distributed rapidly within weeks. Reconstruction work, she said, is continuing under the government’s “Rebuild Sri Lanka” initiative, backed by an allocation of nearly 500 billion rupees.
Importantly, she stressed that the funds had been mobilised “without printing money and without reckless borrowing,” portraying the administration as committed to maintaining macroeconomic discipline despite external shocks and domestic emergencies.
She acknowledged that natural disasters and global geopolitical tensions had slowed aspects of development work, including disruptions linked to instability in the Middle East and maritime security concerns affecting the Indian Ocean region. Yet she argued that Sri Lanka’s fisheries, tourism, and agricultural sectors continued to show resilience.
The Prime Minister also referenced Sri Lanka’s handling of sensitive foreign policy matters, arguing that the government had pursued a balanced diplomatic approach during regional tensions involving Iran and broader global maritime security concerns.
Observers noted that the speech carried a strong emphasis on reconciliation and national unity. Referring to the reopening and preservation of important public institutions and cultural spaces, Harini Amarasuriya reminded the audience of the painful chapters in Sri Lanka’s political history, including the burning of the Jaffna Library in 1981 during the era of the United National Party government.
Without directly engaging in partisan attacks, she suggested that the NPP administration wanted to move Sri Lanka beyond communal divisions and political polarisation.
“We want every Sri Lankan to feel equal before the law,” she said. “No citizen in our country should feel excluded, neglected, or treated as second-class.”
The speech repeatedly returned to themes of social justice, accountability, and dignity, with the Prime Minister arguing that economic recovery alone was insufficient unless accompanied by fairness and public trust in state institutions.
Under the NPP government, she said, the objective was not merely growth statistics, but the creation of a social structure where ordinary citizens could access justice, social security, education, and economic opportunity regardless of ethnicity, religion, or class background.
For many in attendance, the event reflected the growing effort by the Sri Lankan government to engage the diaspora community more directly, particularly at a time when overseas Sri Lankans continue to play a major role through remittances, investments, and international advocacy.
As applause echoed through the hall in Slough, the Prime Minister ended with a message that blended optimism with political determination: Sri Lanka, she argued, was finally attempting to build a state where stability, equality, and economic discipline could coexist after decades of political turbulence.