{"id":112976,"date":"2021-03-24T18:08:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T01:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112976"},"modified":"2021-03-24T18:08:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T01:08:35","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-9a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/03\/24\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-9a\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 9A"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The general election of 1956 introduced to its joyful\nand triumphant public something they never ever expected, political assassination.  SWRD Bandaranaike was assassinated in 1959. This was not\nthe first assassination of a Head of state in South Asia. Liaquat Ali, \nPrime Minister of Pakistan was assassinated in 1951. Bandaranaike was\nprobably the second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first attempt at getting rid of Bandaranaike it appears\nwas in August 1959.  CP de Silva had become\nseverely ill at a cabinet meeting on 25 August 1959 after consuming a glass of\nmilk and was flown to the UK for medical treatment. It was thought at the time,\nthat the milk was intended for Bandaranaike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KKS Perera\nsaid in Daily Mirror 7.4.2016 that CP\u2019s own sister, the well-known\nPediatrician, Dr. Ms. Stella de Silva, who was in USA, attending a seminar,\nrushed home on September 2nd, and on her initiation an eminent neurologist was\nsummoned from UK. He accompanied CP to Hospital for Nervous Deceases in London\non the 7th of September, where it was diagnosed as \u2018acute nephritis\u2019 or\ninflammation of kidneys due to either nephrotoxic effects of drugs and or toxins.\nThe doctors were at a loss to describe exactly how such severe injury could\nhappen so unexpectedly, but were convinced that it was caused from an ingestion\nof a toxic substance.\u201d The fact that the poison could not be indentified easily\nin UK seems to show a foreign hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 1959 was known to be a malefic period for\nBandaranaike. Fortunately, SWRD was to address the UN General Assembly in first\nweek of October and was to leave on September 28. This would help him escape\nthe malefic period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\u2018s\nkillers knew this. They first planned to kill Bandaranaike   at the opening of the new market in Kandy on\nthe 23rd of September. The chosen assassin, the monk Somarama was to merge with\nthe Asgiriya and Malwatte monks and vanish, after shooting Bandaranaike. But Somarama\nhad panicked and the assassination did not take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD was assassinated on Sept 26th<\/sup>.\n1959   He was shot dead by, Talduwe\nSomarama a Buddhist monk at Bandaranaike\u2019s residence in Rosmead Place, Colombo.\nSomarama\nhowever,   was only the tool. The brains behind the\nassassination was Mapitigama Buddharakkita, Viharadhipati of Kelaniya Rajamaha\nVihara. Also founder and secretary of the Eksath Bhikkhu Peramuna of the\nMEP.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrests were\nmade and a Supreme Court trial before Justice TS Fernando started in February 1961.\nSomarama was defended by Lucian G.Weeramantry who appeared free of charge.  The Jury found the first accused Buddharakkita,\nsecond accused HP Jayewardena and fourth accused Somarama guilty by a unanimous\nverdict. All three faced death by hanging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They appealed\nagainst their death sentence to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Court of\nCriminal appeal dismissed all three appeals but amended the sentences imposed\non Buddharakkita and Jayewardena from death to rigorous life imprisonment. Then the three convicted persons tried to\nget their verdicts reversed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in\nthe UK. Applications for special leave to appeal to Privy Council was refused\nby Privy Council in May 1962. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was\ndeep anger among the westernized elite regarding the convictions.   In Kandy, where I grew up, several elite\npersons    told my mother, angrily, that\nthey would get the judgments squashed  \nby Privy Council in London.  My\nmother conveyed this to Justice TS Fernando, who was a close friend of my\nparents. Justice Fernando   replied, with\ncontempt,    Wait and see. They will not   be given LEAVE to appeal.\u201d He was correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somarama was\nhanged in Welikada in July 1962. The life imprisonment sentences of the 1st and\n2nd accused were commuted to 20 years by the UNP government of 1965. Mapitigama\nBuddharakkita died in 1967 of a heart ailment after serving time at\nWelikada prison. HP Jayawardena was released on August 4, 1977. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christian\nchurch got two converts after the Bandaranaike assassination. During the trial\nSomarama had stopped wearing the yellow robes when appearing in\nCourts.  Weeks before his execution\nSomarama was converted to Christianity and was baptized in his cell by an\nAnglican priest, said DBS Jeyaraj. Wimala Wijewardana whose name had been\nlinked with Buddharakkita converted to the Catholic faith and left her property\nincluding Adisham, to the Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who planned the assassination\nwould have considered it a great achievement to have got it done through the\nSangha. They would have hoped that this would demoralize the Maha Sangha and\nmake them run away from politics. That did not happen. The Maha Sangha were not\nshaken. But the public was, temporarily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Somarama assassinated SWRD, the public turned against the\nmonks, said Ellawala Medhananda. They would put parcels of dirt into the\nbegging bowl and would ask \u2018pistole thiyanawada.  Monks\ndid not venture out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other\nhand, when Ellawala and other monks went to view SWRD\u2019s lying in state, no one looked\nat them angrily or said anything.  Nobody\nsaid anything offensive to him when two weeks later he went by bus from Borella\nto Napawala, either. But on the bus from Avissawella to Napawala, one person,   known to Ellawala, had asked \u2018pistole\nthinyanavada\u2019. He later died an\nalcoholic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason given for Buddharakkita wanting to kill Bandaranaike was\nthat he did not get a lucrative contract he had asked for.   Buddharakkita had set up a company, Colombo Shipping\nLines, in the name of HP Jayawardena, to carry\nfreight for Sri Lanka government, specially rice from Burma. Stanley de Zoysa,\nMEP\u2019s Minister of Finance and his brother Sidney, who was DIG, Police were also\ninvestors in Colombo Shipping Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In May 1958 Buddharakkita made a bid for a tender\nto bring 200,000 tons of rice from Burma and carry a similar quantity for\nfurther period of three years. This was\na very lucrative contract and the company stood to make enormous profits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD\nappointed a committee consisting of Philip Gunawardene, RG Senanayake and H.E.Pieris,\nDeputy Secretary to the Treasury, to examine the offer. Pieris did not think\nthe company had the financial standing to undertake such a big venture and did\nnot recommend it.  SWRD acting\non the advice of the committee refused to give the contract to the company,\nresulting in great financial loss and disappointment to Buddharakkita and\nJayawardena.   We are expected to believe\nthat Buddharakkita got Bandaranaike killed for this. Not even a child will\nbelieve this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bandaranaike\nassassination was a political assassination. Philip Gunawardene was the first to\nanticipate this. He had seen plenty of political intrigue at first hand, when\nhe was living in UK, USA, and he could recognize high level intrigue when he\nsaw it in Ceylon. \nPhilip announced in Parliament, Powerful forces, foreign and internal,\nwhich do not wish to see this government continue, are at work.  He turned to Bandaranaike and said,\u201d Sir, your\nlife is in danger\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n1956 MEP swing was not to the liking of UK or USA, observed historian Nayani\nMelegoda. It was seen as a blow to western prestige in Asia. Further, it is a blow in a\nplace where a blow had not been anticipated, the west said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK was\n\u2018bewildered \u2018at this anti British vote.Sri\nLanka was a country which had benefited greatly from it western connections and\nwhich had hitherto appeared to be such a staunch member of the Commonwealth. US\nwas alarmed. Ceylon seemed to be swinging sharply\nleft, it said. US sent Asst Secretary of State William Rowntree to Ceylon in\n1958 to check this out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When   the west comes across regimes they do not\nlike, in newly independent states, they try to get rid of the head of state. The\nassassination is done through local agents who are supported in all sorts of\nways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBandaranaike assassination team appears to have had such external support. Bandaranaike\u2018s\nkillers were defended by highly placed lawyers. At the Supreme Court trial Buddharakkita\nand Jayawardene were defended by reputed British Queen\u2019s Counsel, Phineas\nQuass. Sir Dingle Foot QC, appeared on an honorary basis for Ven. Somarama, in\nLondon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 DBS Jeyaraj says\nBuddharakkita had large sums of money at his disposal.   He had dished out Rs 50,000 to 60,000 in the\n1952 election  to support  Wimala Wijewardena. In 1956 he had spent\naround one lakh on the election.  These were \nhuge sums of money in the 1950s and \nthe Sangha would not   normally\nhave access to such sums . Temples did not run to that sort of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddharakkita    engaged  in business activity  at a level \nfar removed from  any business\nthat a  bhikkhu would attempt. His\nbusinesses were in highly specialized   sectors.\nClearly Buddharakkita had  business\nadvisers in addition to donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddharakkita had his Colombo Shipping Lines. Buddharakkita\nhad also invested in Metals and General Imports Co.\nThis company together with the Czech firm Techno-export tendered for\nconstructing the factory buildings at Sugar Corporation, Kantale. He won the\ncontract. But the company got into difficulties and lost the contract. The link\nwith a forieng firm shows that Buddharakkita had foreign business\ncontacts.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddharakkita has visited London.\nBuddharakkita and his associates made several trips\nto London spending substantial funds to obtain financial backing for the\nColombo Shipping Company, said Meegama. \nSachi Sri Kantha says he had also visited London for a medical checkup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddharakkita lived well. He travelled by car. Buddharakkita was openly disparaging about MEP high\ncommand. Buddharakkita used disparaging epithets for prominent political\nfigures of the day, said Sri Kantha. Buddharakkita referred to Bandaranaike as \nSevela <\/em>(slimy) Banda. Buddharakkita said of Philip, \u2018there is no benefit to those who put him into power and\npower must be wrested from his hands\u2019. He also used the term nondiya<\/em>\n(cripple) to refer to RG Senanayake,  MP\nfor Kelaniya, where his temple was located.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sachi Sri Kantha questions whether any \u2018foreign hand\u2019 was involved\n in the Bandaranaike assassination. Was\nBuddharakkita contacted by the CIA, interested in toppling a Left-leaning prime\nminister into the Indian Ocean? It is no secret that the CIA was  involved inassassinations and assassination attempts on political leaders who\nwere pro-Left during the period 1959 to 1962.<\/strong> Bandaranaike\u2019s politics and actions were definitely\npro-Left,  at  time when America was interested in Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be of interest to delve into  \u2018confidential\u2019 records  to see whether Mapitigama Buddharakkita  had any direct or indirect contacts with\ninternational gumshoes, said Sri Kantha. Buddharakkita  died in prison (at a relatively young age of\n46), when the UNP ,a pro-West government was in power. Has anyone taken the\ntrouble to look seriously into this assassination,  Sri Kantha asked. ( Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}