{"id":113192,"date":"2021-04-02T17:21:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T00:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113192"},"modified":"2021-04-02T17:21:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T00:21:50","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-10b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/02\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-10b\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 10B"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This essay looks at two important\n\u2018results\u2019 or \u2018consequences\u2019 or whatever, of the 1956 General election. They are\nfirstly, the emergence of the SLFP. Secondly, the rise of Sirimavo Bandaranaike\nas the world\u2019s first woman Prime Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SRI LANKA FREEDOM PARTY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD\nBandaranaike formed the SLFP for two reasons, said Wiswa Warnapala. Firstly, as a democratic alternative to UNP and Marxist parties.  Secondly, to provide a means of political\nexpression for Sinhalese and Buddhist vested interests. SLFP   stood for Sinhala culture\nand Buddhism at the time when no other political party was prepared to articulate these issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLFP\nhad its base in the rural areas. It catered  \nto the   full spectrum of voters\nthere,   from the ordinary villager to\nthe rural elite.  Unlike the other\nparties, SLFP knew how to make use of interest groups, observed Wiswa. This\ngave the SLFP a formidable base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SLFP from\nthe beginning was a political party founded on the aspirations of the villager. The\nimpoverishment of the village and its alienation from western culture isolated\nthe villager from the political and economic life of the country. This group, who were\nmarginalized during colonial period, needed its own political party. SLFP\nfilled this need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLFP still remains loyal to its traditional support base, said Wiswa.  The rural forces never allowed the party to\nmove in any other direction. It never functioned as an instrument of the people\nin the urban areas. Even after half a century SLFP remains the main\nvehicle   for the aspirations of the\n\u2018common man\u2019, said Wiswa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The urban\nsector had a complementary view. The urban middle class wished to escape its\nvillage roots. That was why they left the village in the first place.   They wanted a western model of governance,\nnot a village one. They did not wish to support the SLFP. That reluctance\ncontinues to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLFP was\nnever considered a party that could run the country. UNP was\nconsidered a better bet, due to its so-called sound economic policies.  But Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign policy under SLFP\nrule has been far superior to UNP foreign policy. SLFP knew to frame the right\nforeign policy, said analysts. Bandaranaike set the direction, Sirimavo and\nMahinda Rajapaksa continued it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLFP became\nutterly unpopular in the 1970s due to its absurd economic policy. SLFP lost the\n1977 general election and the 1982 Presidential election, but the party did not\nfall.  Instead its voter base rose from\n1,855,331 in 1977 to 2,548,438 in 1982. This was a jump of 37%. The SLFP got\nnearly 700,000 new votes that they had never got before. Nobody has yet broken\nthis record, said Chandraprema in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLFP was not\nin power from 1978- 1994. The period under SLFP\u2019s Chandrika Kumaratunga\n1994-2005 did not please anyone. But when Mahinda Rajapaksa took over the\nleadership of the SLFP in 2005, as President, the     rural base got energized, said Wiswa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had\nvoted Mahinda in to create yet another 1956, with a different emphasis, he said.  The rural voter now wants a leader who could\ntake them beyond the achievements of 1956. Therefore SLFP now needs to meet the\nchallenges of the 21st century, a very advanced and developed century,\nconcluded Wiswa, writing in 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIRIMAVO  BANDARANAIKE <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nassassination of SWRD led to the unexpected rise of his widow, Sirimavo, to the\nposition of Prime Minister .Sirimavo held the post of Prime Minister from 1960-\n1965 and 1970-1977. The 1960-65 period is definitely a continuation of the\n1956 run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo was\nnot the backward rural product she was made out to be. She came from a top\nfamily,  the Mahawalatenne family, and\nshe had studied at a leading Christian school in Colombo, St Bridgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As first\nwoman Prime Minister Sirimavo made global headlines and brought fame to Sri\nLanka. Fame which lasted for decades said analysts. But Sirimavo\nwas not a mere figurehead. She actually led the country and was most effective.\nSirimavo from the beginning showed strength of will, shrewd judgment, and\npolitical skill of a high order, said KM de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo took\nto politics like a duck to water. She was well prepared .Sirimavo had\nsupervised the breakfast press briefings  \ngiven by Bandaranaike when he was Prime Minister. So she knew what was\nhappening.  She had offered her opinion\nto Bandaranaike on the Paddy Lands Bill, and asked whether the Bill need be so\nextreme. Politics was not entirely unknown to her, said DB Dhanapala.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Sunetra Bandaranaike confirmed this when\ninterviewed about her mother. Asked whether her mother was interested in matters\nof state during Bandaranaike\u2018s tenure of office Sunetra said \u2018oh yes. She used\nto always be deeply involved in his political life from the outside, finding\nout what was happening.  When Cabinet\nministers came home, she would sit and listen a little, or bring in tea and\nhear conversations. She was fully aware of what was happening and gave her\nviews very strongly.\u2019 said Sunetra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She argued\n\u2018all the time\u2019 with SWRD on political matters, continued Sunetra. They would\ndiscuss politics over morning tea.  Sirimavo\nwho had her own ideas on the political problems of the moment would say\u2019 now\nSolomon, if I were you,   this is how I\nwould do it.\u2019 Sunetra had heard this many times. She had taken a far more\nstrict position than SWRD. SWRD would agree and then do what he wanted, said\nSunetra. (Interview with Sunetra Bandaranaike. Daily News 4.1.16 p 11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo was\nvery   active in domestic politics. She\ntook over Lake House.  Peoples Bank was\nset up, providing bank services to places which did not have banks. State Insurance\nCorporation was set up.  Assisted schools\nwere nationalized.  Ceylon Petroleum\nCorporation took away the oil distribution from Caltex and Shell. Ceylon Civil\nService was abolished and Ceylon Administrative Service which included the  DROs was set up. The position of Village\nheadman was abolished and the grama sevaka created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\nshowed bias in her domestic administration. I think that she would have had a\nvery parochial attitude.  Victor C de\nSilva, a relative of mine, rose to the position of Director, Public works\nDepartment on his own merit and seniority after decades of dedicated,\nunblemished service. The family was proud and happy. Then they got a shock.\nPrime Minister Sirimavo had summarily removed Victor and appointed someone\nelse, whom no one had heard of, to the post. I forget his name. The matter was\ncorrected later, but it caused much temporary unhappiness and left a bad taste\nin the mouth. I am sure that there would have many other instances of this\nsort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the\nfaults of Sirima\u201d are widely accepted, her foreign policy and\ninternationalism, deserves \nattention,  said Leelananda de\nSilva.    She had great\nachievements during  her first term, as\nPrime Minister and Foreign Minister between 1960 and 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The period\nthat she was foreign minister (and Prime Minister) saw Sri Lanka punching above\nher weight in foreign affairs. <\/em>The Cold War  was on, and  international diplomacy required careful\nnavigation, especially for a country like Ceylon that had recently  achieved independence. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diplomacy was\nnot new to Sirimavo. She had entertained the several heads of state who visited\nSri Lanka when her husband was Prime Minister. \nSirima entertained and came into close contact with some of the\nworld\u2019s topmost leaders said DB Dhanapala.  He named Nehru, Chou, Tito, Rajendra Prasad\nand Harold Macmillan.  She   had visited US, Britain, France, India and\nBurma with her husband when he was Prime Minister said  Dhanapala. Sirimavo was therefore familiar\nwith  diplomacy and diplomatic  protocol,. Bradman  Weerakoon said Sirima was always impeccably\ndressed for any function, neither over nor under dressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\nstrengthened the two valuable diplomatic links established by her husband,   China and Russia. In the summer of 1962, she\nbecame the first Sri Lankan Prime Minister to visit the Soviet Union. Sirimavo\nwas treated as a special guest of Khrushchev. She was given\nred carpet treatment. Most state visitors were put up in hotels or the state\nguest house but Sirima and her group were put up in luxurious suites in the\nKremlin Palace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as\nthey arrived, Khrushchev had ordered that the group be given warm clothes. He\ndid not want them to die of the cold on this official visit. The Sri Lanka\ndelegation was taken to the Bolshoi Ballet and in return, Sri Lanka\npresented  the Chitrasena ballet, Kara\nDiya. It had been well received. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December\n1962 Sirimavo visited China.  This was\nthe first time that a Sri Lanka Prime Minister had visited China.  China treated it as a state visit\nand Sirimavo was received with much pomp and ceremonial. At Canton\nshe was greeted with an army guard of honor, march past, dancers in traditional\nlion costume and bands playing Chinese music. They were given heavy fur\novercoats and head gear to face the cold. \nShe met several times with Chinese Premier Chou en Lai\nat Peking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February\n1964,  Chou visited Bandaranaike in\nCeylon with offers of aid, gifts of rice and textiles, and discussions to\nextend trade. The two also discussed the Sino-Indian border dispute and nuclear\ndisarmament.  There was a second state\nvisit to China in 1972. This was the most successful visit of a Sri Lankan\nleader to a foreign country that I have witnessed  said Jayantha Dhanapala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo had\na close   friendship with Indira Gandhi,\nPrime Minister  of India. Sirimavo had\nfirst met Indira when Nehru had invited SWRD and family to India for a private\nvisit, recalled Sunetra.  We stayed at\nhis residence. That is how they met.  We\nhad had a lovely visit,   seeing all the\nsites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indo-Sri\nLanka relations were excellent said Leelananda. Sirimavo settled the issues\nrelating to Indian citizens in Ceylon (the Sirima-Shasthri pact) and maritime\nborder issues with India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In September 1964, Bandaranaike led a\ndelegation to India to discuss the repatriation<\/a> of the\n975,000 stateless Tamils residing in Ceylon. Along with Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri<\/a>, she ironed\nout the terms of the Srimavo-Shastri Pact<\/a>, a landmark\nagreement for the foreign policy of both nations. Sirimavo also got India to\nwithdraw its claim to Kachchativu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\nintervened in the Sino-Indian dispute, travelling to both countries as an\nintermediary. She was a key player in reducing tensions between India and China\nafter their 1962 border dispute. In November\nand December of that year, Bandaranaike called conferences in Colombo with\ndelegates from Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Ghana and the United Arab Republic<\/a> to discuss\nthe dispute. She then travelled with Ghanaian Justice Minister Kofi Ofori-Atta<\/a> to India and\nChina in an attempt to broker peace . In January 1963,  Nehru agreed to present to the Indian\nParliament the settlement Sirimavo had advocated.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor\nJ.K. Galbraith, who was the US Ambassador in India at the time, records in his\nAmbassador\u2019s Journal, the anticipation with which interested parties looked forward\nto Mrs. Bandaranaike\u2019s mediation efforts. Mrs. Bandaranaike attached the\nhighest importance to the maintenance of friendly relations with India, and she\ndid that as an equal and not as a subordinate party, observed Leelananda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 However, Sirimavo took an independent stand\nwhen it came to India\u2019s two neighbors, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sirimavo gave Pakistan refueling facilities for its aircraft and permission to\nuse Sri Lanka air space, during Bangladesh war of independence 1971,  irritating Mrs. Gandhi no end, observed\nLeelananda.  Pakistan and Bangladesh  have never forgotten this, though Sri Lanka\nhas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\nwas  careful. When the tea estates belong\nto Sterling companies were taken over, she was anxious to ensure that fair\ncompensation was paid to British  owners\nand she discussed this issue with Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister.\nShe did not want to jeopardize the relationship with Britain. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\nbenefited from SWRD\u2019s  diplomatic\nactivities. When Sirimavo took over oil distribution from Shell and Caltex,\nAmerica was angry. Egyptian President Abdel Nasser sent oil tankers to Sri\nLanka.  Egypt had not forgotten that\nBandaranaike had strongly supported Egypt during the Suez crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo paid\nstate visits to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany,. She recognized\nEast Germany though it angered West Germany. Yugoslavia was a favorite country\nof hers. She went there often for treatment for her  arthritis. Her relations with Josip Broz Tito were excellent, said\nBradman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\ncontinued her husband\u2019s policy of linking diplomacy with trade. She wanted\nforeign policy to be of relevance to her domestic economic policies, said\nLeelananda. When she visited countries in the South East Asian region including\nJapan her concerns were equally economic and political. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are\nmany  instances I can quote, from my own\nexperience of Mrs. Bandaranaike\u2019s concern to link up domestic and foreign\npolicy, said Leelananda. <\/em>She  returned from the Russian visit with an\nagreement for large quantities of discounted petroleum from USSR. With only two\nweeks\u2019 worth of rice in stock, she negotiated an emergency shipment of 40,000\ntons from China. <\/em>In 1975 Ms.\nBandaranaike  negotiated with Saddam Hussein,\nthen Vice President of Iraq, for 250,000 tons of oil on a deferred payment\nscheme. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo\nfollowed SWRD\u2019s policies   in\ninternational affairs. She attended the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference<\/a> in London\nMarch 1961.  Sirimavo was ever anxious to\npush the image of newly independent Sri Lanka on such occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 When she was in London for this conference,\nshe found that Ceylon\u2019s High Commissioner was giving a dinner in her honor.\nSirimavo wrote to Bradman Weerakoon that she would like some Ceylon fruits used\nat this dinner. She wanted mangosteens, rambuttan and mangos. She said that the\nmangosteens could be plucked fresh form Horagolla. The rambuttans must be sweet\nnot sour. She specified the amount, 100 mangosteens,    50 rambuttans and 3 dozen mangos.<\/em><\/strong>They must not be too ripe when they\nleave Ceylon. They could come on the Air Ceylon flight just in time for the\ndinner.  This letter in Sirimavo’s\nhandwriting can be seen in Bradman Weerakoon\u2019s Rendering unto Caesar<\/em> p 91.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo  developed SWRD\u2019s line on Non-alignment and\ndid it  better than  SWRD, who was not given a change to develop\nit himself. Sri Lanka grew in stature internationally as a founder nation of\nthe Non-Aligned Movement under the guidance of Ms. Bandaranaike,  said Leelananda.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirimavo attended\nthe Conference on Non-Aligned Nations<\/a> in Belgrade,\nYugoslavia<\/a>, in September\n1961 . She co-sponsored the Non-Aligned Conference held in Cairo In October,\n1961  at Cairo, . She  got much publicity for her speech   which started As a woman and a\nmother.\u201d  Felix Dias Bandaranaike and\nothers in her team had initially toyed with the idea of saying \u2018Mummy\u2019 instead\nof Mother, since they were in  Egypt, the\nland of mummies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also\naddressed the UN General Assembly in 1976 as Head of Non-aligned movement\n.  The climax of her work in\nNon-alignment was the highly successful \nNon Aligned conference held in Colombo in 1976. This was Sri Lanka \u2018s\nfirst international conference and \nColombo did an excellent job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs.\nBandaranaike also proposed that the  Indian Ocean to be a Zone of Peace. She first\nmentioned the idea briefly in her speech at the NAM Summit in Lusaka in\nSeptember 1970, and it was reflected in the final declaration of the Lusaka\nsummit. On her return from Lusaka she directed the Foreign Ministry to flesh\nout the concept. The concept had been influenced by  Diego Garcia becoming  a U.S. base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A resolution\nwas proposed by Sri Lanka at the UN General Assembly\u2019s First Committee dealing\nwith Disarmament and International Security Issues. The resolution was\nintroduced hastily at the behest of Mrs. Bandaranaike without full\nconsultations among the littoral states and the major powers, observed Jayantha\nDhanapala. Out of respect for Mrs. Bandaranaike the NAM countries supported the\nresolution, but most of the West abstained with the U.S., U.K. and France\nstrongly opposed. However, an ad hoc committee was created with the Permanent Representative\nof Sri Lanka appointed chairman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime\nMinster did not have the time or the inclination to intervene with details of\nforeign policy management and administration. Those tasks Mrs. Bandaranaike\nleft to her permanent secretary, said Leelananda. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The management of the Foreign\nService was highly professional at that time, said Leelananda. <\/em>SWRD was responsible for initiating  this.  Sirimavo  appointed career diplomats as heads of\nmissions: Arthur Basnayake to Japan, Ben Fonseka to Kenya and  H. O. Wijegoonewardena to Iraq. Vernon Mendis\nremained as Director-general in the foreign ministry. Mrs. Bandaranaike relied\non his advice and expertise, said Jayantha Dhanapala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best\nfortnightly reports sent in by the \ndiplomats were sent to Mrs. Bandaranaike. She also received special\ndispatches from the Sri Lanka diplomatic missions, as well as policy papers\ngenerated by the Foreign Ministry. She  studied\nthem  and they were all returned with\nneatly penned marginal comments, recalled Jayantha Dhanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This essay concludes\nwith two   reminiscences by Jayantha Dhanapala.\n A group of Chinese doctors came on a\nprivate visit to Colombo in the 1970s to attend on Mrs. Ezlynn Deraniyagala, a\nkinswoman of  Sirimavo and on Sirimavo herself.\nThey were accommodated in the Prime Minister\u2019s official residence, but official\ntransport was not  used for their private\nexcursions.  The delegation was given\nlunch at the Hikkaduwa Rest House. \nSirimavo had  later  asked for the bill  and paid the expenses from her personal\nfunds. I continue to marvel at this exemplary conduct, unique in the behavior\nof our politicians,\u201d said Jayantha Dhanapala.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of\nthe 1972 state    visit to China ,  the officials  in Beijing began preparing the customary gifts\nfor those in the Chinese government associated with the visit. It was late at\nnight in the Sri Lanka delegation\u2019s office room as we gift-wrapped the parcels\nand pasted the appropriate labels on them. A figure in a dressing gown with her\nhair let down in a plait slipped in to join in our collective work. It was Mrs.\nBandaranaike, quietly working with her staff. Her personal touch in supervising\nthe tying of the bows and the neatness of packaging of us clumsy-fingered men\nwas invaluable, concluded Jayantha Dhanapala. ( Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay looks at two important \u2018results\u2019 or \u2018consequences\u2019 or whatever, of the 1956 General election. They are firstly, the emergence of the SLFP. Secondly, the rise of Sirimavo Bandaranaike as the world\u2019s first woman Prime Minister. SRI LANKA FREEDOM PARTY SWRD Bandaranaike formed the SLFP for two reasons, said Wiswa Warnapala. Firstly, […]<\/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-113192","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\/113192","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=113192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}