{"id":140125,"date":"2024-01-31T17:05:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T00:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=140125"},"modified":"2024-01-31T17:10:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T00:10:58","slug":"all-prime-minisrters-sought-them-according-to-their-own-principles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/01\/31\/all-prime-minisrters-sought-them-according-to-their-own-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"All PRIME MINISTERS SOUGHT THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN PRINCIPLES"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Since Independence was sought on 4th<\/sup> February 1948, without shedding a single blood drop, the first Prime Minister was chosen by the Colonials as the Right Honorable D.S. Senanayake. \u00a0He was the Prime Minster from 24 September 1947 till 22 March 1952 when he had an accident and died immediately (after falling from horse riding in the morning).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his death, there was a battle with Sir John Kotelawala to be the Prime Minister of Ceylon. As a result, according to the wishes of Rt.Hon. D.S. Senananayake, his son, \u00a0\u00a0became (Dudley Senananayake ) became the Prime Minister of Ceylon from 02 December to July \u00a0in 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike\u00a0<\/strong>became the Prime Minister from 26 September 1959, known by the Sri Lankan people as “The Silver Bell of Asia”, the fourth\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0of the\u00a0Dominion of Ceylon\u00a0(then\u00a0Ceylon), serving from 1956 until in 1959, causing him to die in office. The founder of the\u00a0left-wing\u00a0Sinhalese Nationalist<\/a>\u00a0Sri Lanka Freedom Party<\/a>, his tenure saw the country’s first left-wing reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born to a wealthy Family<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born to a\u00a0wealthy, political family<\/a>, he studied\u00a0philosophy, politics, and economics<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Christ Church, Oxford<\/a>, and was\u00a0called to the bar<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0Inner Temple<\/a>. Returning to Ceylon, he entered local politics by joining the\u00a0Ceylon National Congres<\/strong>s<\/strong><\/a>. Having been elected to the\u00a0Colombo Municipal Council<\/a>\u00a0in 1926, he was elected from his\u00a0family seat<\/a>\u00a0in Veyangoda to the\u00a0State Council of Ceylon<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for two terms between 1931 and 1947, while serving in the second term as Minister of Local Administration in the\u00a0Board of Ministers<\/a>. Having founded the\u00a0Sinhala Maha Sabha<\/a>\u00a0in 1936 on Sinhalese nationalist lines advocating for\u00a0self-rule in Ceylon<\/a>, he joined\u00a0D. S. Senanayake<\/a>\u00a0by dissolving the Sinhala Maha Sabha<\/strong> and merging it with the\u00a0United National Party<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at its formation in 1947. He was elected to the\u00a0House of Representatives<\/a>\u00a0in 1947 representing the United National Party from\u00a0Attanagalla<\/a>, which would become the political seat of\u00a0his family<\/a>\u00a0for the next fifty years. Since the Sinhala Maha Sabha formed the largest segment of the United National Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D. S. Senanayake appointed Bandaranaike <\/strong>as\u00a0Minister of Health and Local Government<\/a>; he was elected as the\u00a0Leader of the House<\/a>. Following several disagreements, Bandaranaike resigned from the government and approached the opposition, forming the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951<\/strong>. Following D. S. Senanayake’s sudden death and the elections that followed, Bandaranaike was elected\u00a0leader of the opposition<\/a>. Mustering a powerful coalition called the\u00a0Mahajana Eksath<\/strong> Peramuna<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and contesting on the lines of Sinhalese nationalism and socialism, he was able to achieve a landslide victory over the United National Party in the general elections in 1956, thereby becoming the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon<\/strong>. Bandaranaike removed all the British Naval and Air bases in Ceylon and established diplomatic missions with several communist states. He implemented a new language policy, the\u00a0Sinhala Only Act<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> making Sinhala the sole official language of the country, creating much controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 25 September 1959,\u00a0Bandaranaike was shot at his house<\/a>\u00a0in Rosemead Place, Colombo, and died of his wounds the day after the day he was shot at. A Buddhist monk named\u00a0Ven Talduwe Somarama was arrested, convicted, and hanged for the murder of Bandaranaike. Wijeyananda Dahanayake<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was appointed as the caretaker Prime Minister by the Governor General and was confirmed by the Parliament. Bandaranaike’s death led to political turmoil with the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna<\/strong> falling apart under Dahanayake, who eventually formed his own party and contested the general elections in March 1960. Although the Freedom Party failed to form a government under the leadership of\u00a0C. P. de Silva<\/a>, fresh elections were held four months, later after the United National Party <\/strong>government lost the\u00a0throne speech<\/a>es. Bandaranaike’s widow Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0lead the Freedom Party to gain a majority in the Parliament and was appointed the first<\/strong> female <\/strong>P<\/strong>rime <\/strong>M<\/strong>inister in the world<\/strong>. She expanded on her husband’s left-wing reforms in her two terms as the Prime Minister from 1960 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1977. In 1994, Bandaranaike’s daughter,\u00a0Chandrika Kumaratung<\/strong><\/a>a<\/strong> headed a coalition led by the Freedom Party to be elected <\/strong>P<\/strong>rime <\/strong>M<\/strong>inister<\/strong>,<\/strong> <\/strong>and thereafter as the President serving from 1994 to 2005, during which Bandaranaike’s widow served as the Prime Minister from 1994 to 2000. Bandaranaike’s son,\u00a0Anura Bandaranaike<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0served as Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.R. Jayawardene<\/strong> thus became the second President of The\u00a0 Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, after making Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike adjustments to Ceylon to be the Social Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka. \u00a0J.R. managed to restrict\u00a0 Mrs. Bandaranaike\u2019s civic rights for several years. Not only that He was in office from 4th February 1978 to 2nd January 1989. He produced the most \u2018frightening laws to be able to keep the \u2018Executive President\u2019 would be able to do anything the President likes (which means that a woman cannot be turned into a man!). Not only that J.R. Jayawardena kept, in his pocket a few letters signed by the members of the Parliament so that they could abandon Parliamentary seats from the United National Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Followed by J.R. Jayawardena the next President became Ranasinghe Premadasa<\/strong>. He was in office from 6th<\/sup> February 1978, until the age of sixty-eight, till 2 January 1988. He was assassinated on Independence Day in February 1978 when a Tamil servant boy waved a hankey to attract him to the spot where he was killed there and then on the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his demise became the acting President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, who also died recently. He was the acting President from 1 May 1993 \u2013 7 May 1993 May 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa <\/strong>served as the\u00a0President of Sri Lanka<\/a>\u00a0from 2005 to 2015; the\u00a0Prime Minister of Sri Lanka<\/a>\u00a0from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022;]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Leader of the Opposition\u00a0from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the\u00a0Minister of Finance\u00a0from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for\u00a0Kurunegala<\/a>\u00a0since\u00a02015<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/strong> is the 9th and current\u00a0President of Sri Lanka. He also holds several ministerial positions, including the\u00a0Minister of Finance,\u00a0Minister of Defence,\u00a0Minister of Technology,\u00a0and\u00a0Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe has led the\u00a0United National Party<\/a>\u00a0since 1994. He has served as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka<\/a>\u00a0on five separate occasions, leading six governments, from 1993 to 1994, 2001 to 2004, 2015 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and for a few months in 2022. He has also served as\u00a0the Leader of the Opposition<\/a>\u00a0from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entering active politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, he was first elected to Parliament from the Biyagama electorate and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, by his uncle, President\u00a0J. R. Jayewardene<\/a>. He was thereafter appointed as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Employment and became the youngest\u00a0cabinet minister<\/a>\u00a0in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1989, President Ranasinghe Premadasa<\/a>, appointed Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology and Leader of the House<\/a>. He was appointed Leader of the Opposition<\/a> in November 1994, following the assassination of Gamini Dissanayake<\/a> during the campaign in Wickremesinghe was the UNP nominee in the 1999<\/a> and 2005 Presidental elections<\/a>, but was defeated by Chandrika Kumaratunga<\/a> and Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 8 January 2015, Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the Prime Minister by President\u00a0Maithripala Sirisena<\/a>, who had defeated President\u00a0Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a>\u00a0in his coalition alliance, the\u00a0United National Front for Good Governance, won the\u00a02015 parliamentary election\u00a0with 106 seats. Although it fell short of an outright majority, Wickremesinghe was re-elected as the Prime Minister, with over 35\u00a0Sri Lanka Freedom Party members joining his Cabinet.\u00a0Wickremesinghe was removed as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 by President\u00a0Maithripala Sirisena\u00a0with the appointment of former President\u00a0Mahinda Rajapaksa\u00a0as the Prime Minister, which Wickremesinghe refused to accept, resulting in\u00a0a constitutional crisis. The crisis ended with Sirisena re-appointing Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister on 16 December 2018. He resigned as Prime Minister on 20 November 2019, and was again succeeded by Mahinda Rajapakse following the\u00a02019 presidential election. He contested the\u00a02020 parliamentary election\u00a0but failed to secure a single seat for the UNP in Parliament.[<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He re-entered Parliament as a National List MP of the\u00a0United National Party and was sworn in as a member of parliament on 23 June 2021. In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was re-appointed as Prime Minister by President\u00a0Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a>, the new President On 9 July 2022. Wickremesinghe announced that he was willing to resign amidst mass\u00a0anti-government protests<\/a>\u00a0that saw his\u00a0personal residence<\/a>\u00a0set ablaze, along with the\u00a0residence<\/a>\u00a0of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa taken over by protestors. He agreed to resign as Prime Minister once a new government was formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wickremesinghe became the acting president on 14 July 2022, after his predecessor\u00a0Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a>\u00a0fled the country. Rajapaksa resigned on 14 July 2022, and on the same day, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as acting President of Sri Lanka. On the same day, he decided to formally abolish the\u00a0presidential standard\u00a0and remove the style “His Excellency” when addressing the President. On 20 July 2022, Wickremesinghe was elected as the 9th President via an\u00a0election\u00a0by the Parliament on\u00a0 21 July 2022, he took the Presidential oath in Parliament as the current President of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those people who talk about Ranil Wickremasinghe as an efficient President, who has managed to cut down on people queuing for petrol and gas ( explosions!) and bringing the country to a satisfactory situation and not being a\u00a0 bankrupt country anymore, despite the soaring prices of commodities, \u00a0seem to think that he should be the next Presidential candidate but he has declared that \u2018 he would decide on that only in April 2024!\u2019<\/em>.That will show his confidence in resurrecting the country at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic fact remains that all the Prime Ministers were hell-bent on their own ideas and principles that have gone down the country to a stage of bankruptcy at present!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tilakfernando@gamail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Since Independence was sought on 4th February 1948, without shedding a single blood drop, the first Prime Minister was chosen by the Colonials as the Right Honorable D.S. Senanayake. \u00a0He was the Prime Minster from 24 September 1947 till 22 March 1952 when he had an accident and died immediately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-drtilak-s-fernando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140125","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=140125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}