evidence: The serious contenders, such as President Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Minister Sajith Premadasa, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s (JVP) Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa, have spoken little about what is known as the "national question": a political solution to the hopes and aspirations of the Tamil people living in the northern and eastern regions of the country. So much so that when Wickremesinghe was in Tamil-dominated Jaffna recently, he made it a point to speak in Sinhala. He did the same in Batticaloa, another Tamil and Muslim town in the east. "I took this responsibility to fight for you [becoming President in 2022]," he told the largely unmoved audience in Eravur, Batticaloa. "There was no fertilizer or petrol. The economy had come to a halt." He added that he had turned around the country in a short period.