{"id":48242,"date":"2015-09-28T19:46:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T01:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=48242"},"modified":"2015-09-27T15:14:38","modified_gmt":"2015-09-27T22:14:38","slug":"bandaranaike-assassination-due-to-banda-chelva-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/09\/28\/bandaranaike-assassination-due-to-banda-chelva-pact\/","title":{"rendered":"Bandaranaike Assassination\u2013 due to Banda \u2013 Chelva pact?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chanaka Bandarage<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

During the 1956 election campaign Bandaranaike promised to make Sinhala the only Official language. \u00a0But, after he came to power he was slow to implement the promise.<\/p>\n

Staunch protests were initiated by nationalists including a fast to death demonstration by AP Jayasuriya MP, which was strongly supported by KMP Rajarathne MP and Wimala Wijeyawardena MP, who was also the then Health Minster.\u00a0 Bandaranaike had no other alternative but to introduce legislation to legalise his \u2018Sinhala Only\u2019 policy. The Act was passed by a majority in the parliament in 1956.<\/p>\n

But, Bandaranaike could not live with his nationalist policy for too long.\u00a0 The pressure put on him by SJV Chelvanayakam (Federal Party Leader) was too much, Bandaranaike could no longer take it.\u00a0 He signed the Bandaranike \u2013 Chelvanayakam pact (Banda \u2013 Chelva pact) in 1957. This gave equal status to both Sinhala and Tamil languages and covered a broad range of areas.\u00a0 Effectively, what the two leaders consented was to have a federal administrative system in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

This (Banda \u2013 Chelva pact) infuriated the Sinhala Buddhists. \u00a0There were mass protests in the country against the pact and Buddhist monks took the lead role in them. \u00a0Hundreds of Buddhist monks (about 200) camped outside of Bandaranike\u2019s Rosmead Place residence.\u00a0 Bandaranike had to erect a barbed wire fence to keep them away from entering his residence. Ven Mapitigama Buddharakkitha, the chief incumbent of the Kelaniya temple was the leading figure who marshaled the camping monks. \u00a0Bandaranaike went out of his house and met the monks; he promised to abrogate the Banda-Chelva pact.\u00a0 He also confirmed this in writing and sent a hand written note to the monks through Wimala Wijeyawardena . \u00a0The monks dispersed. \u00a0This was also in 1957.<\/p>\n

The Banda \u2013 Chelva pact seriously dented the excellent relationship that existed between Bandaranike and the Buddhist clergy (and aspects of the \u2018pancha maha balawegaya\u2019). \u00a0Mapitigama Buddharakkitha had spent hundreds and thousands of his own money to bring Bandaranike to power; but, by 1957 the two had become enemies (some say Buddharakkitha\u2019s animosity towards Bandaranaike was not due to nationalist reasons, but personal – Bandaranaike refused to award a lucrative shipping contract to Buddharakkitha\u2019s brother\u2019s company; and Wimala Wijewardana\u2019s son was also engaged in that business).<\/p>\n

Mapitigama Buddharakkitha was an extremely influential monk of the time.\u00a0 This can be illustrated from the following two incidents:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • After he was sworn in as the Prime Minster, Bandaranike, rather than paying homage to the sacred tooth relic at the Kandy temple, went to worship the Kelaniya temple where Buddharakkitha was the chief incumbent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • Immediately after Bandaranaike\u2019s death, the then incumbent Prime Minister, Dahanayaka, requested Buddharakkitha to give a sermon on national radio praising Bandaranaike, which Buddharakkitha did (Buddharakkitha was arrested a few days afterwards).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Buddharakkitha and Wimala Wijeyawardena \u00a0were close friends, it is also well known that both were ardent nationalists. \u00a0There were incidents to prove this; some are mentioned in this article.<\/p>\n

      The Buddhist clergy was angry with Bandaranike about the Banda \u2013 Chelva pact; and by 1959 the pact had very much resurfaced. \u00a0Despite his promise to the monks, Bandaranaike was very committed to implementing the pact.\u00a0 He wanted to bring in legislation to legalise it (JR Jayawardane initiated a walk from Colombo to Kandy to protest against the pact which was thwarted by SD Bandaranike MP at Gampaha).\u00a0\u00a0 Bandaranike genuinely thought that the pact would bring a lasting settlement to the Sinhala \u2013 Tamil problems (in 1958, the first ever Sinhala \u2013 Tamil communal clashes occurred over the issue of \u2018\u0dc1\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dd3\u2019 vehicle number plates).<\/p>\n

      Buddharakkitha and Wimala Wijeyawardena were accused in the Bandaranike murder trial.\u00a0 The latter was acquitted during the course of the proceedings, but, Buddharakkitha was convicted and sentenced to death.\u00a0 The death sentence was commuted to a life imprisonment by the 1965 Dudley Senanayake government.\u00a0 Buddharakkitha died in the prison, at the age of 46.<\/p>\n

      The primary suspect of the murder trial was Ven Thalduwe Somarama (4th<\/sup> accused of the trial). \u00a0It was alleged that Buddharakkitha used Somarama to commit the murder.<\/p>\n

      Somarama was also a well-known nationalist.\u00a0 He lived at a temple in Borella. He was an Ayurveda Physician and a lecturer at the Borella Ayurveda College.\u00a0\u00a0 He hailed from a paddy farming family in Mathara. \u00a0He became a monk when he was 14.\u00a0 He was ordained at the age of 21 in Kandy.\u00a0 After he was found guilty of the murder by the jury, he was hanged to death <\/em>in 1962.\u00a0 He was 47 then.<\/p>\n

      Immediately after shooting Bandaranaike, Somarama \u00a0repeatedly uttered the words\u00a0 \u2018country, race and religion\u2019(\u2018\u0dbb\u0da7<\/u>, <\/u>\u0da2\u0dcf\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dba<\/u>, <\/u>\u0d86\u0d9c\u0db8<\/u>\u2019).\u00a0 These are words of an extreme nationalist, not of a person with a different motive to kill.<\/p>\n

      Somarama, the strong nationalist, would have never got involved in the murder,\u00a0 unless the killing in his eyes was definitely political.<\/p>\n

      Somarama\u2019 s above words allow us to draw the inference that he killed Bandaranike due to Banda \u2013 Chelva pact.<\/p>\n

      Various other conspiracy theories have emerged in regards to the assassination such as it being a CIA plot, the involvement of one Ossie Corea etc. \u00a0They have proven to be bunkum.<\/p>\n

      It seems the real motive to kill Bandaranaike was the Banda-Chelva pact, but, no one can say this with absolute certainty. This is because the two murderers did not confess to the killing.\u00a0 They pleaded not guilty to the offence of murder that they were charged with.<\/p>\n

      It is stated that Buddharakkitha privately attributed that his motive to kill Bandaranaike was his failure to aggressively pursue the Nationalist reforms\u201d.<\/p>\n

      The then press did not give publicity to the nationalist statements made by Somarama and Buddharakkitha following the incident of shooting.\u00a0 Today, they allow us to draw inferences in regards to their motive to kill.<\/p>\n

      The writer stresses that it was a despicable act to kill Bandaranaike in such a horrendous manner; the popularly elected Prime Minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Chanaka Bandarage During the 1956 election campaign Bandaranaike promised to make Sinhala the only Official language. \u00a0But, after he came to power he was slow to implement the promise. Staunch protests were initiated by nationalists including a fast to death demonstration by AP Jayasuriya MP, which was strongly supported by KMP Rajarathne MP and Wimala […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chanaka-bandarage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48242","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=48242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}