{"id":113014,"date":"2021-03-26T16:32:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T23:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113014"},"modified":"2021-03-26T16:32:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T23:32:53","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-9b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/03\/26\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-9b\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 9B"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

It is a\nwonder that the 1956 government was able to achieve anything at all,\nconsidering the obstacles the MEP government had to face, said analysts. First,\nthere were natural disasters.  An unprecedented\ndrought  in 1956  and   unprecedented floods    in 1957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\nwere two ethnic riots, the Gal Oya riots of June 1956, and two years\nlater the 1958 riots, starting in May 24 1958. Emergency rule was declared from\nMay, 1958 to March 1959.  There was Press\ncensorship and all night curfew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has\nbeen government meddling in these riots. Merril Gunaratne reported that the IGP\nOsmund de Silva had stormed into a cabinet meeting after 1958 riots and   submitted his letter of resignation, accusing\ngovernment MPs of having interfered with the lawful actions of the police\nduring the riots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MEP   itself was very unstable. Bandaranaike had\ncobbled together all sorts of disparate groups into one coalition. MEP was not\na political party it was a Peramuna, consisting of an\nassorted group of parties and persons, \n explained Meegama. MEP did not\nlast long as a political party. It started in 1956 and was dissolved in 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meegama\nobserved that VLSSP was a party of socialists. Its two ministers, Philip and\nWilliam Silva were both veterans of the international\nsocialist movement. They looked at problems in a systematic and scientific\nmanner. The SLFP on the other hand    \nwas a home grown populist party, muddling through crises as they came. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1956\nCabinet was also an impossible mixture of opposites. Philip Gunawardene, William Silva, and TB Ilangaratne\nwere socialists who wished to make radical changes.  They were opposed by W.Dahanayake, CP de\nSilva, and Stanley de Zoysa.  CP de\nSilva has worked closely with DS Senanayake on his Minneriya project and had\nbeen persuaded to join the SLFP by H Sri Nissanka. Stanley de Zoysa was a\nbusiness man. Stanley de Zoysa sported a\nmonocle and wore stylish English cut clothes.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike was also in the peculiar position of\nfinding himself opposed by both the Left (LSSP) and the Right (UNP)\nsimultaneously. This is probably quite rare.  \nFrom the day the MEP government was formed, the right mobilized all its\nforces to topple the MEP government, observed Meegama. By 1958,\nDudley and JR were regrouping the UNP to comeback into power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LSSP was\nequally active. There was a spate of   strikes organized by the LSSP and CP in the\nport, postal and telecommunication services and in\nthe tea estates. Labor unions\ncontrolled by LSSP and CP and estate unions controlled by CWC and DWC   participated. These unions were restive. They\nhad not received what they had hoped for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the\nMEP, also there was similar dissatisfaction. Changes were not taking place fast\nenough. There was rising heat against Bandaranaike at the annual SLFP\nconvention held in Kurunegala in 1959.  The\nMaha Sangha was also getting restive and impatient. They were exasperated with Bandaranaike\u2018s\ninability to deliver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eksath Bhikshu\nPeramuna had a meeting at Punchi Borella In 1959   , presided over by Bandaranaike. Ven.\nTalapavila Seelawansa, Baddegama Wimalawamsa, Mirisse Gunasiri and Mapitigama\nBuddharakkita were present on the stage.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talapavila Seelawansa\nmade a powerful speech. Three years have gone by        only two more left. The   government has not honored a single one of\nits pledges.  Work in government office\nis done in English. We have got him down day to teach him how to do his job\nproperly, not to chant pirit. This government the lacks the strength to implement\nits policies, said Talapavila Seelawansa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD got up,\ninterrupted the speech and asked angrily, Did you call me here to scold\nme.   Seelawansa   stopped speaking and sat down. SWRD was\npersuaded to stay, reported Evans Cooray.  If he had not stopped the discussion,\nBandaranaike would have had to listen to a barrage of criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD found it\nimpossible to get anywhere, due to the political storms he encountered every\nweek, observed Tarzie Vittachi.  Particularly in the third\nquarter of 1958 things began to become very difficult for Bandaranaike. There\nwere frequent convulsions in the cabinet, said Bradman Weerakoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right\nwing members of the MEP were strongly opposed to Philip Gunawardene\u2019s socialist\nreforms. Bandaranaike tried to pacify them, by taking away some subjects from\nPhilip but this was not enough. They wanted Philip out, and it appears that\nthey wanted him out before Bandaranaike was assassinated. Philip may have replaced SWRD as Prime Minister. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nGunawardene\u2019s policies were unpopular with the mercantile sector as well. Sunday Times<\/em> May\n17 1959 said that mudalalies, shop owners and others in trade circles are\nrejoicing over the removal of Food Department from Philip.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matters came\nto a head over the Cooperative Development Bank Bill present by Philip Gunawardene\nto Cabinet in November 1958.This Bill would set up a fund to assist the\nhundreds of MPCS that Philip\u2019s ministry had set up throughout the country. For\nthe first time a Left party would have a rural base.  <\/em>There was mounting\nopposition, but Philip would permit no compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On 6th May 1959 there was a revolt in the Cabinet.\n10 ministers led by Stanley de Zoysa said they would not attend Cabinet\nmeetings until Philip was dismissed.  The Cabinet meeting scheduled for May 13 1959\nwas cancelled. Stanley de Zoysa and Dahanayake were threatening to\nresign unless Philip left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nGunawardene and William Silva resigned on May 19.1959. When Philip resigned, all 12 members of the VLSSP  left. This included Hela Havula .\n Seven members of the SLFP also left. That was the end\nof the MEP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cabinet of 16 ministers consisting of only SLFP MPs was sworn in\non June 9 .The Government continued with a slender majority. It lacked the\npower to rule effectively as it lacked the votes. Government\ncould barely hold its own in Parliament and depended on 5 nominated members.  The Right though\nvictorious was disturbed, said Meegama.  Bandaranaike\nalso had to be eliminated. Bandaranaike was assassinated in September 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evans Cooray\nobserved that Bandaranaike had one foot among the masses and the other foot\namong the bourgeoisie. [He made the mistake of] attempting to pacify both\nextremes. He should have taken a position between these two extremes, said\nEvans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD was  a man besieged, standing all alone, fighting\nwith his back to the wall, with whatever resources he had which were miniscule,\ncompare to the massive  forces of the\nright, the left and the English speaking westernized elite range against\nhim,  said HLD Mahindapala. (Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS It is a wonder that the 1956 government was able to achieve anything at all, considering the obstacles the MEP government had to face, said analysts. First, there were natural disasters.  An unprecedented drought  in 1956  and   unprecedented floods    in 1957. Then there were two ethnic riots, the Gal Oya riots of June […]<\/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-113014","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\/113014","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=113014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}