{"id":113535,"date":"2021-04-15T15:16:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T22:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113535"},"modified":"2021-04-16T16:33:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T23:33:13","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-10f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/15\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-10f\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 10F"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The political\nand social upheaval caused by the 1956 government received a mixed reaction in\nSri Lanka society. 1956 had different connotations\nfor different groups.  For the\nEnglish speaking elites in Colombo  and elsewhere\nin the island, the world turned upside down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1948 to 1956 political power in Ceylon had been\nheld by the English educated elite. This\nelite was highly westernized, Anglophile, right wing and   Christian. Many had close ties to the UNP. its\nright to rule had never been challenged.  Up to 1956, the ideal politician was one who belonged\nto the westernized Ceylonese elite and behaved like an Englishman.  Now their\npolitical power was under threat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political role of the English educated elite began to\nerode before their eyes, said Wiswa Warnapala. When the rural group and the lower\nmiddle class became MPs in Parliament and ministers in SWRDs government, the\nelite classes were in a rage. The\nposition given to common persons was unbearable to the elite who thought that a\nseat in Parliament was their prerogative alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elite took the view that    the rural sector was not entitled to a\nplace in the sun. That was reserved for the westernised elite alone. The elite looked down\non the rural MPs as \u2018miserable backwoods creatures who had been washed into\nprominence by the unexpected tidal wave that hit the island in 1956\u2019  (Flybynight). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This elite opposed the\ndethronement of English, the arrival of Sinhala, the election of rural MPs, the\nrevival of Buddhism and free education. They objected most to the enthroning of\nthe Sinhala language. For some, it was a never to be forgotten monumental event.  As the Sinhala speaking segment rose, their\nown position would be affected, especially since their own Sinhala was not that\ngood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was animosity\nalso to the rise of the whole Sinhala Buddhist segment.\nThis segment had risen upwards due to two innovations, Free education and\nSwabhasha. The cartoonist Aubrey Collette (1920-1992) responded to this. He drew two mocking cartoons of GP\nMalalasekera fondling his OBE medal and CWW Kannangara pointing to the Pearl of\ngreat price, Free education. These two cartoons are featured in Neville Weeraratne\u2019\nbook \u201943 group\u2019<\/em> and belong to the\nBrendon and Yasmine Gooneratne collection.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collette was the\ncartoonist at Ceylon Observer in the 1956 years.  His cartoons reflect the attitude of the\nwesternized elite. The first cartoon given below suggests that change is not\nnecessary for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka should not be changed in any way. it should\ncontinue as it did under British rule. the second and third cartoons   imply that\nSinhala was a backward   primitive language,\nused in ancient times, by natives who were  \nno better than monkeys.   the Sinhala\nOnly\u201d policy of 1956 would   take us back\nto the same primitive level and turn us into apes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most sneering contemptuous opposition to SWRD came from this English speaking elite drawn from all communities, said HLD Mahindapala. It is this group who led the 1962 coup.(continued)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KAMALIKA PIERIS The political and social upheaval caused by the 1956 government received a mixed reaction in Sri Lanka society. 1956 had different connotations for different groups.  For the English speaking elites in Colombo  and elsewhere in the island, the world turned upside down. From 1948 to 1956 political power in Ceylon had been held […]<\/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-113535","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\/113535","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=113535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}