by k m seethihaving got rid of the rajapaksas the sri lankan uprising aragalaya led by its sansculottes commoners is a sign of the island nations transformative potentialsri lanka is in the midst of unprecedented turmoil characterized by economic meltdown and political implosion the twin crises political and economic afflicting the islands state and society call for a substantive and allencompassing strategy that may help instil confidence in both its citizens and investors for the 22 million population an effective politicoeconomic crisismanagement mechanism is the need of the hour to tackle external debt and the domestic slump this is also important for assuaging peoples angst against a reckless administration led by the rajapaksa dynastyadmittedly what is critically significant is the nature of the new political dispensation in colombo that will be entrusted with the task of negotiating with external lending agencies as well as with emerging social forces in the island nation the people have lost all faith in the capability of the existing dispensation reimplanted with ranil wickremasinghe as acting president though ranils incarnation albeit temporary is a prelude to impending changes in the administration the agitating masses hardly trust this man insofar as he could hold on to the spectre of the rajapaksa dynasty in one way or other thats why they insisted that ranil must quit as early as possible ranils declaration of nationwide emergency and his denouncement of the protesting people as fascists only ignited their angst further even the opposition leader sajith premadasa expressed his reservations about ranil donning the mantle prematurelyplausibly a more complicated task would be the choice of ministers in the interim cabinet if different sections of the population are not represented in the proposed cabinet protests and campaigns will snowball across the island presently the 225member parliament has rajapaksas party sri lanka podujana peramuna slpp holding the majority the slppled front won 146 seats in the 2020 election which included 14 sri lanka freedom party members but 42 slpp mps declared in april this year that they would sit independently curiously ranils unp has only one member in parliament the opposition party samagi jana balawegayasjb led by sajith premadasa has nearly 50 seats the leftist janatha vimukthi peramuna jvp has not made up its mind regarding its options of joining an interim allparty government consultations with the tamil national alliance tna also get underway though it seeks more clarity with respect to the nature of the impending dispensationnow that the first priority is to elect a new president sri lankas parliament is expected to meet on 20 july the process of installing a new cabinet will follow after the election of the president in any case a stable government is a key to any negotiations with inter national monetary fund imf or world bank for a bailout to rescue a tottering economy with skyrocketing inflation 54 6 that is anticipated to reach 70 in the coming monthsthe sri lankan meltdown is a grim reminder that alternative sources of