Lalkantha drops bombshell with village rule announcement

 NPP party Executive Council member K.D. Lalkantha

• NPP Executive Council member K.D. Lalkantha declares party will provide mechanism for public to create and enforce laws at local levels 
• Highlights unequal application of laws, noting separate standards for public and VIPs
• Says NPP will take steps to introduce direct democracy in addition to representative democracy

National People’s Power (NPP) party Executive Council member K.D. Lalkantha’s declaration to devolve legislative and judicial authority to local levels, has stirred significant debate within political circles. The statement  by Lalkantha, which has sparked widespread controversy, was made during the party’s May Day rally held in Anuradhapura.

In his address, Lalkantha declared that under a future NPP Government, villages would be empowered with the ability to create and enforce their own laws.

“We will provide the power or create a mechanism for your village to formulate laws. We will provide your village with the power to enforce these laws or judicial powers,” he said.

The NPP member highlighted the current discrepancy in the application of the law, pointing out that there appears to be one set of laws for the general public and another set for VIPs

“Therefore, we will initiate a new political revolution that empowers the people to enact laws, enforce them, and administer justice, ultimately reaching down to the grassroots level,” he declared. Lalkantha said the NPP will bring in a new constitution and a new form of Governance. “At the upcoming Presidential poll we should win it, dissolve Parliament and take steps to introduce direct democracy in addition to representative democracy as in developed countries,” he said. 

Citing an example, Lalkantha proposed that referendums should be conducted during the process of enacting laws, enabling people to determine whether the country truly requires the proposed legislation or not.

During a press conference yesterday, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ajith P. Perera characterised the declaration as a throwback to the troubled times of the late 1980s, emphasising its seriousness while SJB Weligama electorate organiser Rehan Jayawickreme taking to X (formerly Twitter) said people will be subjected to an extreme form of communism under the NPP. 

However, some X users criticised the SJB, urging them to refrain from indulging in what they deemed as uninformed “Red Scare” tactics, cautioning that such actions could expose their party’s own vulnerabilities.