October 27, 2025 – November 2, 2025 | Vol.15, #41 | ISSN 3084-9330
Photo credits: ONLANKA
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Key insights:
- The NPP’s “Ratama Ekata – Jathika Meheyuma” reframes the anti-drug drive as a unifying national mission — a moral struggle that rallies citizens across political and communal lines against a shared threat to the nation – one that penetrates deeply into the collective mind.
- The government’s anti-drug campaign is framed as more than policy — a national mission seeking to embed itself in public consciousness.
Analysis
Over the past week, the Sinhala media focused on the launch of “Ratama Ekata – Jathika Meheyuma” (trans. “A Nation United – National Mission”), an initiative aimed at eradicating illicit drugs under the leadership of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
This coverage spanned print, television, and social media commentary, with online narratives tracked and analysed using the monitoring tool Junkipedia.[1]
This week’s analysis is set out under three headings.
1. What was the key event that captured public attention?
October 13: The Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of a National Operational Council to implement “Ratama Ekata – Jathika Meheyuma”.[2]
October 30: President Anura Kumara Dissanayake officially launched the programme at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.[3]
November 2: The police announced that 3,361 suspects had been arrested for drug-related offences within three days of the programme’s launch.[4]
The Sinhala mainstream and social media commentary were overwhelmingly positive towards President Dissanayake and the NPP government for initiating the campaign. Notably, several privately owned Sinhala newspapers that had been critical of the government in recent months adopted a noticeably more supportive tone in their coverage of the campaign.
2. Why is this issue significant?
It taps into a long-standing public anxiety about drugs — a sentiment deeply rooted in Sinhala society.
Within the Sinhala public psyche, illicit drugs have long been seen as a grave menace to the moral and social fabric of society, especially to schoolchildren. In this context, the government’s anti-drug campaign is presented not only as a policy initiative, but as a national mission intended to shape collective perceptions and embed itself in public consciousness.
3. How did the “Ratama Ekata – Jathika Meheyuma” impact the government?
The campaign strengthened the government’s legitimacy by transforming a moral issue into a platform for unity, reform, and public mobilisation.
The NPP government framed “Ratama Ekata – Jathika Meheyuma” as a unifying national cause — a moral struggle that transcends party and communal lines by rallying the public against a shared threat.
This framing stands in contrast to some of the anti-drug campaigns of past governments, which were often viewed as political manoeuvres aimed at deflecting attention from governance failures and scandals. The “Mathin Thora Ratak” / “Mathin Nidahas Ratak” (trans. “a country free from intoxicants”) campaign launched in April 2019, months before the end of President Maithripala Sirisena’s tenure, was seen as an attempt to regain political ground.[5] Similarly, the “Yukthiya” (trans. “justice”) operation under President Ranil Wickremesinghe was framed as a distraction from the country’s deepening economic crisis ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election.[6]
By contrast, the NPP’s campaign is framed not as a political diversion but as a social mobilisation. It recasts the drug crisis as a collective threat to the nation, with Sinhala media amplifying this framing through a vocabulary of menace and struggle — “ජාතික ව්යසනයක” (trans. “national catastrophe”), “මාරාන්තික අභියෝගයක්” (trans. “deadly challenge”), and “යක්ෂ සේනාව” (trans. “demonic army”) (Please refer to memes and cartoons published in this issue of MPA).” The campaign’s tagline “විකුණන–ලොල් වුණ සැමට දැනුම් දීමයි – ඉවත් වෙනු” (trans. “notice to all who sell and are addicted – withdraw”) further invokes the language of moral discipline. Together, these elements contribute to a portrayal of drugs as a moral adversary to be confronted.
The slogan “Ratama Ekata” (trans. “a nation united”) extends this moral framing, it signals a campaign that seeks to rally all segments of society around a unifying struggle. Through this framing, the NPP transforms what was once a politically expedient theme into a vehicle for collective purpose, positioning the fight against drugs as both a moral project and a national mission.
This moral mobilisation has, in turn, bolstered the NPP’s political standing, with the government drawing legitimacy in two key ways: confronting the deep state of corruption and criminality, and calling out institutional complicity.
i. Confronting the deep state of corruption and criminality
The NPP government’s campaign appears to underscore a long-standing public perception that successive Sri Lankan administrations colluded with, rather than confronted, the criminal establishment.
Over the past few decades, successive governments have faced sustained criticism for enabling a parallel power structure that intertwined political authority with criminal networks, including drug lords and underworld figures. This nexus was widely seen as operating under the patronage and protection of segments of the political elite, allowing it to persist across administrations.
The campaign is thus framed not simply as a law-enforcement effort, but as an attempt to disrupt deep-seated corruption in the moral and political order. By positioning itself against this inherited status quo, the government presents the initiative as a restoration of integrity and public trust.
President Dissanayake’s call to dismantle the “deep state” of corruption and criminality resonates with long-standing public anger over the nexus between politics and crime, reinforcing the NPP’s system-change narrative and moral legitimacy.
ii. Calling out institutional complicity
The president’s remarks denounced state institutions that had enabled crime to flourish, implicating agencies such as the Police and Customs. Dissanayake framed the drug crisis as a product of systemic collusion rather than mere administrative failure. Sinhala media drew contrasts with earlier anti-drug drives, which were widely viewed as ineffective and lacking credibility, with their implementing institutions often seen as complicit in criminal networks. ‘
This framing taps into a long-standing public perception of the state’s entanglement with crime and politics, while the NPP’s emphasis on institutional integrity — particularly its portrayal of empowering law enforcement — aligns with public expectations for reform and accountability.
[1] The MPA team monitored Facebook profiles, TikTok handles and YouTube channels using Junkipedia for the keywords withdraw (ඉවත්වෙනු), drugs and addicted (ලොල්) in Sinhala, from October 27 to October 31, 2025
[2] For more information, see: https://www.ft.lk/news/Govt-to-launch-Ratama-Ekata-national-anti-drug-operation/56-782996 and https://www.newswire.lk/2025/10/14/cabinet-approves-ratama-ekata-anti-drug-operation/.
[3] For more information, see: https://www.sundaytimes.lk/251026/news/nation-united-national-drive-programme-to-eradicate-the-dangerous-drugs-menace-617288.html and https://www.newsfirst.lk/2025/10/30/president-unveils-national-drug-eradication-plan.
[4] For more information, see: https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=114207#:~:text=More%20than%203%2C000%20individuals%20have,raids%20conducted%20across%20the%20island and https://www.newswire.lk/2025/11/02/ratama-ekata-operation-over-3300-arrested-in-three-days/.
[5] See TMA Vol.09, #4.
[6] For more information, see: https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/are-sri-lankas-anti-drug-crime-operations-working/.
To view this week’s news summaries, please click here.
To view this week’s social media data, please click here.
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