KAMALIKA PIERIS
The general election of 1956 introduced to its joyful
and triumphant public something they never ever expected, political assassination. SWRD Bandaranaike was assassinated in 1959. This was not
the first assassination of a Head of state in South Asia. Liaquat Ali,
Prime Minister of Pakistan was assassinated in 1951. Bandaranaike was
probably the second.
The first attempt at getting rid of Bandaranaike it appears
was in August 1959. CP de Silva had become
severely ill at a cabinet meeting on 25 August 1959 after consuming a glass of
milk and was flown to the UK for medical treatment. It was thought at the time,
that the milk was intended for Bandaranaike.
KKS Perera
said in Daily Mirror 7.4.2016 that CP’s own sister, the well-known
Pediatrician, Dr. Ms. Stella de Silva, who was in USA, attending a seminar,
rushed home on September 2nd, and on her initiation an eminent neurologist was
summoned from UK. He accompanied CP to Hospital for Nervous Deceases in London
on the 7th of September, where it was diagnosed as ‘acute nephritis’ or
inflammation of kidneys due to either nephrotoxic effects of drugs and or toxins.
The doctors were at a loss to describe exactly how such severe injury could
happen so unexpectedly, but were convinced that it was caused from an ingestion
of a toxic substance.” The fact that the poison could not be indentified easily
in UK seems to show a foreign hand.
September 1959 was known to be a malefic period for
Bandaranaike. Fortunately, SWRD was to address the UN General Assembly in first
week of October and was to leave on September 28. This would help him escape
the malefic period.
Bandaranaike‘s
killers knew this. They first planned to kill Bandaranaike at the opening of the new market in Kandy on
the 23rd of September. The chosen assassin, the monk Somarama was to merge with
the Asgiriya and Malwatte monks and vanish, after shooting Bandaranaike. But Somarama
had panicked and the assassination did not take place.
SWRD was assassinated on Sept 26th.
1959 He was shot dead by, Talduwe
Somarama a Buddhist monk at Bandaranaike’s residence in Rosmead Place, Colombo.
Somarama
however, was only the tool. The brains behind the
assassination was Mapitigama Buddharakkita, Viharadhipati of Kelaniya Rajamaha
Vihara. Also founder and secretary of the Eksath Bhikkhu Peramuna of the
MEP.
Arrests were
made and a Supreme Court trial before Justice TS Fernando started in February 1961.
Somarama was defended by Lucian G.Weeramantry who appeared free of charge. The Jury found the first accused Buddharakkita,
second accused HP Jayewardena and fourth accused Somarama guilty by a unanimous
verdict. All three faced death by hanging.
They appealed
against their death sentence to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Court of
Criminal appeal dismissed all three appeals but amended the sentences imposed
on Buddharakkita and Jayewardena from death to rigorous life imprisonment. Then the three convicted persons tried to
get their verdicts reversed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in
the UK. Applications for special leave to appeal to Privy Council was refused
by Privy Council in May 1962.
There was
deep anger among the westernized elite regarding the convictions. In Kandy, where I grew up, several elite
persons told my mother, angrily, that
they would get the judgments squashed
by Privy Council in London. My
mother conveyed this to Justice TS Fernando, who was a close friend of my
parents. Justice Fernando replied, with
contempt, Wait and see. They will not be given LEAVE to appeal.” He was correct.
Somarama was
hanged in Welikada in July 1962. The life imprisonment sentences of the 1st and
2nd accused were commuted to 20 years by the UNP government of 1965. Mapitigama
Buddharakkita died in 1967 of a heart ailment after serving time at
Welikada prison. HP Jayawardena was released on August 4, 1977.
The Christian
church got two converts after the Bandaranaike assassination. During the trial
Somarama had stopped wearing the yellow robes when appearing in
Courts. Weeks before his execution
Somarama was converted to Christianity and was baptized in his cell by an
Anglican priest, said DBS Jeyaraj. Wimala Wijewardana whose name had been
linked with Buddharakkita converted to the Catholic faith and left her property
including Adisham, to the Church.
Those who planned the assassination
would have considered it a great achievement to have got it done through the
Sangha. They would have hoped that this would demoralize the Maha Sangha and
make them run away from politics. That did not happen. The Maha Sangha were not
shaken. But the public was, temporarily.
When Somarama assassinated SWRD, the public turned against the
monks, said Ellawala Medhananda. They would put parcels of dirt into the
begging bowl and would ask ‘pistole thiyanawada. Monks
did not venture out.
On the other
hand, when Ellawala and other monks went to view SWRD’s lying in state, no one looked
at them angrily or said anything. Nobody
said anything offensive to him when two weeks later he went by bus from Borella
to Napawala, either. But on the bus from Avissawella to Napawala, one person, known to Ellawala, had asked ‘pistole
thinyanavada’. He later died an
alcoholic.
The reason given for Buddharakkita wanting to kill Bandaranaike was
that he did not get a lucrative contract he had asked for. Buddharakkita had set up a company, Colombo Shipping
Lines, in the name of HP Jayawardena, to carry
freight for Sri Lanka government, specially rice from Burma. Stanley de Zoysa,
MEP’s Minister of Finance and his brother Sidney, who was DIG, Police were also
investors in Colombo Shipping Line.
In May 1958 Buddharakkita made a bid for a tender
to bring 200,000 tons of rice from Burma and carry a similar quantity for
further period of three years. This was
a very lucrative contract and the company stood to make enormous profits.
SWRD
appointed a committee consisting of Philip Gunawardene, RG Senanayake and H.E.Pieris,
Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, to examine the offer. Pieris did not think
the company had the financial standing to undertake such a big venture and did
not recommend it. SWRD acting
on the advice of the committee refused to give the contract to the company,
resulting in great financial loss and disappointment to Buddharakkita and
Jayawardena. We are expected to believe
that Buddharakkita got Bandaranaike killed for this. Not even a child will
believe this.
The Bandaranaike
assassination was a political assassination. Philip Gunawardene was the first to
anticipate this. He had seen plenty of political intrigue at first hand, when
he was living in UK, USA, and he could recognize high level intrigue when he
saw it in Ceylon.
Philip announced in Parliament, Powerful forces, foreign and internal,
which do not wish to see this government continue, are at work. He turned to Bandaranaike and said,” Sir, your
life is in danger”.
The
1956 MEP swing was not to the liking of UK or USA, observed historian Nayani
Melegoda. It was seen as a blow to western prestige in Asia. Further, it is a blow in a
place where a blow had not been anticipated, the west said.
UK was
‘bewildered ‘at this anti British vote.Sri
Lanka was a country which had benefited greatly from it western connections and
which had hitherto appeared to be such a staunch member of the Commonwealth. US
was alarmed. Ceylon seemed to be swinging sharply
left, it said. US sent Asst Secretary of State William Rowntree to Ceylon in
1958 to check this out.
When the west comes across regimes they do not
like, in newly independent states, they try to get rid of the head of state. The
assassination is done through local agents who are supported in all sorts of
ways.
The
Bandaranaike assassination team appears to have had such external support. Bandaranaike‘s
killers were defended by highly placed lawyers. At the Supreme Court trial Buddharakkita
and Jayawardene were defended by reputed British Queen’s Counsel, Phineas
Quass. Sir Dingle Foot QC, appeared on an honorary basis for Ven. Somarama, in
London.
DBS Jeyaraj says
Buddharakkita had large sums of money at his disposal. He had dished out Rs 50,000 to 60,000 in the
1952 election to support Wimala Wijewardena. In 1956 he had spent
around one lakh on the election. These were
huge sums of money in the 1950s and
the Sangha would not normally
have access to such sums . Temples did not run to that sort of money.
Buddharakkita engaged in business activity at a level
far removed from any business
that a bhikkhu would attempt. His
businesses were in highly specialized sectors.
Clearly Buddharakkita had business
advisers in addition to donors.
Buddharakkita had his Colombo Shipping Lines. Buddharakkita
had also invested in Metals and General Imports Co.
This company together with the Czech firm Techno-export tendered for
constructing the factory buildings at Sugar Corporation, Kantale. He won the
contract. But the company got into difficulties and lost the contract. The link
with a forieng firm shows that Buddharakkita had foreign business
contacts.
Buddharakkita has visited London.
Buddharakkita and his associates made several trips
to London spending substantial funds to obtain financial backing for the
Colombo Shipping Company, said Meegama.
Sachi Sri Kantha says he had also visited London for a medical checkup.
Buddharakkita lived well. He travelled by car. Buddharakkita was openly disparaging about MEP high
command. Buddharakkita used disparaging epithets for prominent political
figures of the day, said Sri Kantha. Buddharakkita referred to Bandaranaike as
Sevela (slimy) Banda. Buddharakkita said of Philip, ‘there is no benefit to those who put him into power and
power must be wrested from his hands’. He also used the term nondiya
(cripple) to refer to RG Senanayake, MP
for Kelaniya, where his temple was located.
Sachi Sri Kantha questions whether any ‘foreign hand’ was involved
in the Bandaranaike assassination. Was
Buddharakkita contacted by the CIA, interested in toppling a Left-leaning prime
minister into the Indian Ocean? It is no secret that the CIA was involved inassassinations and assassination attempts on political leaders who
were pro-Left during the period 1959 to 1962. Bandaranaike’s politics and actions were definitely
pro-Left, at time when America was interested in Asia.
It may be of interest to delve into ‘confidential’ records to see whether Mapitigama Buddharakkita had any direct or indirect contacts with
international gumshoes, said Sri Kantha. Buddharakkita died in prison (at a relatively young age of
46), when the UNP ,a pro-West government was in power. Has anyone taken the
trouble to look seriously into this assassination, Sri Kantha asked. ( Continued)
