The history of UNP’s deceptions, betrayals and oppressions Part I of Part V
Posted on March 23rd, 2017

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The United National Party, the party of the Anglophile and Western slavish elites have come to power in many elections only through blatant lies, misleading the people and giving false promises. As far as I remember this type of deceiving the people started in July 1960 election when we were school kids at that time.  Infuriated by the defeat of the March 1960 government in its Throne Speech by the negative vote cast by the Federal Party the UNP launched an aggressive election campaign for the July 1960 election led by Mr. Dudley Senanayake claiming that there was a secret pact between the leader of the Federal Party Mr. S.J.V.Chelvanayagam and the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike to divide the country and handover the North and East of the country for the Tamils.  There were leaflets, pamphlets and banners showing an Osari clad Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike holding a huge ‘Maha Pihiya’ and cutting North and East of the country and handing it over to Chelvanayagam. Despite denial of such a planned betrayal by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the patriotic iron lady of whom this country can be proud of, the UNP rigorously an intensely carried out this campaign making it as the main theme of its campaign.

Despite this malicious propaganda and meticulous attempt to paint Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike as an anti national figure, people overwhelmingly welcomed her political entry and not only gave a significant victory to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party but also created a history by making her the first lady Prime Minister of the world.

It was during this time, in 1962, certain leading particularly non Buddhist high ranking officers of the tri forces and the Police attempted to stage a coup d’tat and capture the government and it is said that the U.S.A. fully supported the move due to nationalization of oil companies and the school take over.  However, the IGP at that time was Mr. Stanley Senanayake, a Buddhist and being unable to support the planned coup and thereby Sri Lanka becoming a western puppet informed about the on-going plan to his father-in-law P.De S.Kularatne through his wife and Mr. Kularatne in turn informed Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Accordingly the coup attempt was foiled in time and all concerned officers were taken into custody and they included C.C.Dissanayake, the grandfather of present Finance Minister Mr. Ravi Karunanayake.  Although these officers were guilty of attempting to topple the duly elected legitimate government, and if it was done in a foreign country, all such persons could have been executed by a firing squad. Sri Lanka was not a sovereign country at that time and was only a British colony, and hence the trial against them was heard in the U.K and they got acquitted.

In 1964 the left parties, the LSSP and the Communist party under an initiative made by the Minister of Trade who was responsible for introducing several progressive measures such as establishing the People’s Bank, the Insurance Corporation and nationalizing the import trade which were in the hands of Indians, joined the Government and they were offered several Ministerial portfolios.  The government introduced several progressive legislations including the Press Council Bill and a Bill to nationalize the false news fabrication mill Lake House well known at that time as the ‘Pacha Moala’.

Ranil’s father Mr. Esmond Wickremasinghe infuriated by the planned Lake House take over, their family treasure, staged a conspiracy to defeat these progressive legislations by buying over 11 SLFP MPs including the Leader of the House C.P.de Silva and Mahanama Samaraweera, father of the current Foreign Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera.  There was a media report some time ago based on a speech made by the UNP MP Mr. Buddhika Patthirana of Matar, who is a bête noir of Mangala Samaraweera saying that Mangala’s father Mahanama Samaraweera betrayed the confidence kept in him by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike for a bribe of Rs. 50,000 and a bottle of Gal Arrack. Although Mr. Mangala Samaraweera threatened to sue Buddhika about this statement nothing happened about it. I also remember that Mr. Mangala Samaraweera’s mother Mrs. Khema Samaraweera, a very kind hearted and fine lady, telling us when we were working for the SLFP election campaign that prior to the crossover of her husband, Mr. Montague Jayawickrema and some other UNP Ministers used to frequent their house with bottles of liquor and spend long hours and that she really hated these meetings..

In the 1965 election campaign, with the support of USA and India the UNP made China as their main trump card and created a huge China phobia in the country saying that Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike had a secret pact with China to hand over the strategic Trincomalee harbour to that country.  They also published many photographs showing many Chinese looking nationals in many parts of the country in an attempt to convince the people their China phobia tales.  In this election the United States, the oil cartels, the missionaries, and the media barons headed by Ranil’s father Esmond Wickremasinghe led a huge misinformation campaign as a consequence of them getting affected by the bold and resolute steps taken by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike to nationalize fee levying schools, nationalize oil companies, establish national institutions such as Insurance Corporation, Peoples Bank, many other Corporations and nationalize the UNP mouth piece Lake House which was spreading blatant lies and anti national stories, and negatively projecting all people friendly steps taken by the government.

This anti government campaign was so intense and rigorous and as a result the UNP was able to form a government with 6 other parties (the seven party coalition – Hath Havula) including the Federal Party and the staunch anti Tamil party Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna led by K.M.P.Rajaratne.  In the allocation of Ministerial portfolios Mr. Thiruchelvam was made the Minister of Home Affairs.

Then came the 1970 Election. The people were extremely discontented with the Hath Haula government due to the sky rocketing prices of essential food items, lack of jobs for graduates and other youth, lack of development and stagnation in the country and due to the fact that the government was concerned only about pleasing the elites and fulfilling their needs.  This situation led to a mammoth victory for the United Front coalition led by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The coalition comprised the SLFP, the LSSP and the Communist Party.  In this election many promising youngsters such as Mahinda Rajapaksa of the SLFP, Vasudeva Nanayakkara of the LSSP, and Sarath Muttettuwegama of the Communist Party entered the Parliament for the first time.

Even before the lapse of one year from the establishment of this government the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna led by Rohana Wijeweera staged an insurrection on 5th April 1971 with several thousand misguided youth attempting to topple the government. The plans of the insurrection included capture of all Police stations in the country, taking into custody and killing the Prime Minister and the other Ministers (the responsibility of taking into custody of the Prime Minister was entrusted to Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe, the former JVP leader).  Several Police stations and several areas including Deniyaya and Uragaha were captured and held by the insurgents until all the areas were flushed out of insurgents by the security forces.  Several thousand youths including the leaders such as Rohana Wijeweera, Mahinda Wijesekera, Podi Athula (Victor Ivan), Loku Athula, Lional Bopage, J.D.Dharmasekera, Jayadeva Uyangoda were taken into custody.  Special open prison camps were set up to rehabilitate these misguided youth and socialize them.  Somawansa Amarasinghe was given a complete pardon despite that he attempted to kill the Prime Minister. Podi Athula (Victor Ivan) is the Editor of the ‘Ravaya’ newspaper and Jayadeva Uyangoda is a University Professor now. Loku Athula and Mahinda Wijesekera became successful politicians and Ministers.  This is a clear manifestation of the humane qualities of Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike who could have easily meted out harsh punishments to these insurgents.

(Continued on Part II)


 

2 Responses to “The history of UNP’s deceptions, betrayals and oppressions Part I of Part V”

  1. Kumari Says:

    Thank you for writing our recent history. Please add that Mrs Bandaranayake was instrumental in making peace between India and China during her first term as PM. In the 1970s she also allowed the Pakistani forces to fly through Sri Lanka to arrest the situation in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Indians at the time prohibited Pakistani flights over their air space. The only request Mrs B’s government made was that the Pak forces should not wear their uniforms while in transit. She did not make India angry over this, she was principled and firm.

  2. Lorenzo Says:

    Keeping UNP away from presidency is VERY IMPORTANT.

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