A Marxist conquers 'Little Rome' in 1956

by W. T. A. Leslie FERNANDO

Although there was a strong agitation all over the country to make Sinhala the state language in Sri Lanka, the very first rally to that effect was held in the Catholic town of Negombo. It was organised by the VLSSP branch, Negombo and was held in September 1955 at the Green Park, Negombo. The language policy of the VLSSP was that Sinhala should be made the official language and Tamil should be the regional language in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces.

Ven. Meegomuwe Junawansa Thera	Phillip Gunawardena	Kusuma Gunawardena

At that rally presided over by Santiago Fernando, the VLSSP leaders, Phillip Gunawardena, William de Silva, Kusuma Gunawardena and M. S. Abubaker made speeches. Ven. Meegomuwe Junawansa Thera on behalf of the Maha Sangha and A. D. Jayasekera, the President of the Lanka Jathika Guru Sangamaya too addressed the gathering. A mammoth crowd which the organisers never expected attended this rally in Negombo.

Thereafter so many rallies to demanded Sinhala be made the state language organised mainly by the Buddhist Bhikkus were held all over the country. Santiago Fernando addressed some of those rallies on behalf of Catholics. He was the only Catholic seen in forefront in the language issue. At a meeting held in Kandy presided over by the Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatta Chapter, all the speakers were limited to address for only 15 minutes. When it came to the turn of Santiago Fernando he was allowed to address for any length of time!

According to the no-contest pact between the SLFP and the LSSP, Dr. Hector Fernando of the LSSP got the ticket to contest the Negombo seat.

Although the VLSSP formed constituent party of the MEP, there was no such no-contest pact between the LSSP and the VLSSP. As such Santiago Fernando got the MEP nomination to contest Negombo from the VLSSP.

Nevertheless whatever the trends were in the country, the situation in Negombo was different. There was a large proportion of voters in Negombo belonging to Warnakulasuriya and Kurukulasuriya clans who spoke Tamil. The language policy of the LSSP giving parity status to Sinhala and Tamil appealed to them. Warnakulasuriya clan was a strong vote base for Warnakulasuriya Santiago Fernando. Besides the MEP was pledged to implement the Buddhist Commission Report so as to suppress the vicious activities of Catholic action. At that time the Catholics were prohibited from even reading Buddhist Commission Report.

In this background Santiago Fernando realised that he could not muster support to win the Negombo seat. Although his name appeared in some journals as the candidate of the MEP in Negombo, at the last moment he desisted from contesting the seat.

At the 1956 election, there was a three-cornered contest for the Negombo seat. The UNP candidate was T. Quentin Fernando, a retired District Judge. Dr. Hector Fernando was the LSSP nominee. Tudor Gunasekera, the Chairman of the Andiambalama V. C. contested as an independent.

As Santiago Fernando did not contest there was a split in the ranks of the VLSSP in Negombo. Some of the activists of the VLSSP like Edwin Fernando, Eddie Cooray and Shelton Miral backed the independent candidate Tudor Gunasekera. However the majority of the VLSSP cadres in Negombo wholeheartedly supported Dr. Hector Fernando, the LSSP candidate.

Dr. Hector Fernando's name as the candidate was proposed by Cecil de Silva the leader of the Communist Party in Negombo and was seconded by Henry Karunaratne a stalwart of the VLSSP. Santiago Fernando addressed some rallies in favour of Dr. Hector Fernando and D. B. Waidyasekera another leading VLSSPer acted as Dr. Hector Fernando's polling agent at Hunupitiya. The leading VLSSP youth K. Julian Perera and Eugene Fonseka played a leading role in Dr. Hector Fernando's election campaign.

T. Quentin Fernando	A.D.Jayasekera	Santiago Fernando

When the election fray gathered momentum, the trends against the UNP found all over the country were seen in Negombo as well. Many Catholics who were traditionally supporters of the UNP began to rally round Dr. Hector Fernando. He got the backing of the majority of the Buddhists in Negombo too.

There was also indication that the UNP would lose the Catholic seats surrounding Negombo like Ja-ela, Nattandiya and Chilaw. However the UNPers in Negombo calculated that Dr. Hector Fernando of the LSSP lost Negombo seat by over 13,000 votes at the 1952 elections and he could never win Negombo. They also expected that Tudor Gunasekera, the independent candidate would split the anti-UNP vote.

The fact that the election for Negombo was held on the second day of the poll was favourable to Dr. Hector Fernando. On the first day UNP could win only 8 seats and was routed. It lost the Catholic seats like Ja-ela and Chilaw. It is said that this factor helped Negombo too to follow suit and led to the fall of the strong UNP fortress.

In the 1956 general election Dr. Hector Fernando of the LSSP who polled 20892 votes in the Negombo seat defeated the UNP candidate T. Quentin Fernando who polled 18212 votes by a majority of 2800 votes. Tudor Gunasekera the independent candidate polled only 4389 votes.

The victory of Dr. Hector Fernando was a historical event. It was the first and the last occasion, the Catholic stronghold Negombo called the 'Little Rome' was won by a Marxist. For that matter, it was the only occasion in Sri Lanka, where a Marxist stormed an electorate with a Catholic majority.

It is controversial whether Tudor Gunasekera, the independent candidate could split the anti-UNP vote. Some rich and powerful persons in the area campaigned for Tudor Gunasekera and it is said that the majority he polled were pro UNP votes. On the other hand if Santiago Fernando contested the seat at the time from the MEP, he would have definetly split the anti-UNP vote and the result would have been different.