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| Sunday, 28 November 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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My entry into active politics Memoirs of Sirima R. D. Bandaranaike Continued from last week
The UNP had control of the newspapers. The fact is, a cartoonist in the Lake House newspapers stooped to the lowest level to publish vulgar cartoons. After the elections he did not remain in the country. He feared the people's wrath and ran away, out of the country. It was not an easy task to get the party together and find suitable candidates at such short notice. We arranged no-contest pacts with the LSSP and CP not to contest one another in some electorates. Felix Dias Bandaranaike played an important part in those negotiations. In that way we avoided the 3 - 4 cornered contests as in the March elections. Though I led the party I did not contest a seat. I wanted to be free to campaign for the party without having myself tied down to an electorate. My real intension was, if the party succeeded, to name somebody else to lead the government. The UNP apparently suspected this and they kept on asking on platforms as to who was going to be the Prime Minister. She (Mrs. Bandaranaike) is not contesting a seat, therefore she cannot be PM without being in Parliament. So our speakers kept assuring the people that I would be leading the government if the people gave us the power. The constitution had provisions for one to hold office for 3 months as PM or a Minister without being in either of the Houses-Senate or Parliament. There was the Senate too then. In fact the then Governor-General Sir Oliver Goonetileke told me later, that the UNP had consulted legal opinion from a constitutional lawyer in the UK to find out whether I could be PM without being in Parliament. Their opinion had been that it was possible, provided the person enters Parliament or Senate within 3 months. In spite of that the UNP leader kept on saying that I could not, in order to deceive the people. So within 3 months I was nominated to the Senate. I appointed my Cabinet of Ministers. I was the only woman in the Cabinet. I was often asked the question how I functioned with an all male Cabinet. I must say that I had no problems. They all co-operated and gave me all the support necessary. Towards the end of 1961 there was a general strike by leftist trade unions and an emergency had to be declared. It was at this stage that some reactionaries in the army, navy and police among the top officer ranks planned a coup in January 1962 to overthrow our government and handover reins to someone of their choice. They did not approve of the progressive measures we were taking. I have written a separate chapter on this coup. We overcame this serious situation and we were getting on tackling problems, when in 1964 there was another attempt to defeat our government. When the Government decided to bring a law to broadbase the Lake House Group press which was a reactionary press the UNP got very active. They went to the extent of bribing some of the SLFP members of Parliament. The capitalist class contributed large funds for the purpose. The UNP was not concerned about Lake House. They only used it as a whiphand to defeat the Government on the grounds that we were trying to destroy the free press. Some of the leaders of the UNP were shareholders of Lake House. They used this position to defeat my Government in Parliament. A Commission of Inquiry was appointed on August 5, 1970. "The Commission was required to inquire and report on whether Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited had offered or given any gratification to any person who was a Member of the House of Representatives in 1964". The Commission in their report stated inter alia: There can be no concealment of the truth that the crucial date for the purpose of this allegation is the 3rd December 1964, which was the date on which some 14 Members of the House of Representatives supporting the then Government crossed over to the Opposition enabling the latter to throw out a vital resolution. (To be continued) |
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