Bouncing back, not an easy task for UNP

By Jaliya WIJEYEKOON

D.S. Senanayake	Dudley Senanayake	Sir John Kotalawala	J.R. Jayawardene	R. Premadasa	D.B. Wijetunga	Ranil Wickremesinghe

The United National Party (UNP) was formed by its founder leader on September 6, 1946 at Palmcourt, Albert Crescent, Colombo with an initial 200 membership. It was called the United National Party since all community leaders represented this new movement.

D.S. Senanayake who had a great vision for the future of the country organised the party properly with the help of office-bearers of the party such as S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, T.B. Jayah, Arunachelem Mahadeva, S. Nadesan, J.L. Kotalawala, George E. de Silva, A.R.A. Razik, Dudley Senanayake and J.R. Jayewardene.

The new party progressed rapidly and became a force to be reckoned within Sri Lanka's political arena.

At the election, in 1947 the UNP emerged victorious and the Right Honourable D.S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of then Ceylon. The greatest achievement was winning independence in the immediate next year - 1948. D.S. governed the country only a little over three years and had a sudden death falling off the horse-back while on his regular exercises at the Galle Face Green.

After D.S. Senanayake's death his eldest son Dudley who was the Agricultural Minister in the cabinet was appointed Prime Minister and the Leader of the United National Party. Dudley contested the election in 1952 and secured a two-third majority in Parliament under his able stewardship.

However, with the passage of time some developments took place in the party and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike broke away from the party and formed the MEP. Sir John Kotalawala was not very happy with Dudley's leadership and was away from the country for a brief period and wrote a book titled Agamethi Parapura. He returned to the island and had constant conflicts with Dudley over various issues.

Dudley who was a mild-hearted person though a Cambridge Scholar, stepped down from the leadership and politics paving the way for Sir John to take over the reins, claiming a prolonged stomach ailment.

Sir John who was a very straightforward, outspoken, tough and rigid leader ruled the country for a few years and at the next election the party was reduced to eight members. That was the first debacle suffered by the UNP. Sir John never came back to politics and lived in isolation till he passed away in 1979. However, the UNP was in and out of power from Parliament on four occasions under the stewardship of Dudley Senanayake until 1970 where the UNP had the second worst debacle. Dudley Senanayake passed away in 1973 and the undisputed deputy leader, J.R. Jayewardene took over the leadership and geared the party to its historic five-sixths victory in 1977. J.R. became the premier and changed the constitution and became the Executive President in 1978. From 1978 there were dramatic changes in all spheres of life.

JR's second term was not very rosy as there were two uprisings. The LTTE movement was rapidly gaining ground in the North while the JVP reactivated their movement and started killing people indiscriminately. However, JR under his astute leadership temporarily suppressed both struggles till he completed his second term.

Thereafter, Ranasinghe Premadasa took over the leadership and contested the Presidential election and won amidst two major problems. The JVP in the South and the LTTE in the North. In addition to these two problems, he had to face an impeachment motion brought in Parliament by his own party stalwarts supported by the opposition. However, he sailed through turbulent political waves driving away his opponents to the political wilderness. Although he escaped the coup, that was the turning point of the downfall of the UNP which had been steadied by his predecessor J.R. Jayewardene. Prime Minister Premadasa faced an untimely death on May 1, 1993 and D.B. Wijetunga, the then Prime Minister became the President and Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Prime Minister.

In 1994 the general election was held and the People's Alliance formed the government under the leadership of Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga with the support of the Muslim Congress headed by M.H.M. Ashraff. At the subsequent Presidential election Chandrika Kumaratunga was elected as the fourth Executive President of Sri Lanka with a huge majority.

Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the party in 1994 and since then it has been a pathetic situation in the United National Party. However, under his stewardship, the UNP won the 2001 general election which they could not consolidate and continue due to the shortsighted policies of the leader. The controversial peace accord he signed with Vellupillai Prabhakaran even without the knowledge of his own party but with the blessings of foreign powers also contributed to his unpopularity and the party to a great extent.

The results of all subsequent elections revealed that the popularity of the United National Party steadily declined not only in rural agricultural areas but also in the cities and suburbs. Certain districts which were supposed to be the main UNP strongholds also had been won by the UPFA at the last general election.

With the defeat of all elections Ranil's leadership was challenged by party stalwarts saying that he was mainly responsible for the defeat. With the string of successive defeats a large number of party members joined the ruling party saying that the UNP will never come back to power as long as Ranil remains the leader of the party.

Unlike in previous defeats, the recent humiliating defeat suffered by the party caused innumerable problems to the leadership. Some of the able lieutenants who defended the leader on previous occasions also did not win their seats in Parliament.

Ranil's leadership is again being challenged and some party leaders claim that Sajith Premadasa should be the party leader to steer the party to victory at a future election.

The Sunday Observer contacted some of the district leaders of the party to ascertain their views, the present position and the future course of action of the party.

Rukman Senanayake, Kegalle district -

Q: Your party suffered a great loss at the last election. What do you think of the reasons for such a debacle?

A: There may be number of reasons but the main reason is the wrong decisions and the shortsightedness of Ranil Wickremesinghe who does not consult political matters with others. According to our party constitution all powers are centred around the leadership. We are now going to take action to change this situation and re-structure the party mechanism decentralising the powers up to grassroots level.

We will change the leadership and Sajith Premadasa will be appointed as the leader. The UNP will certainly regain power under Sajith's leadership in future.

Sujeewa Senasinghe - Colombo district said that the party should be re-organised from the top level to grassroots level under the direct supervision of Ranil Wickremesinghe with his ocean of knowledge of politics and with the innovative ideas of Sajith Premadasa who could address the masses effectively. An aggressive re-organisation campaign should be launched to revive the party.

Vajira Abeywardene - Galle District:

Q: You were the most senior member and the district leader of the party. What is the reason for your defeat and the party?

A: Well, with the resounding victory of the President it is not possible to win a subsequent immediate election.

This has been proved in the past elections. My personal loss was mainly due to my type of campaigning. I campaigned for the party in the district and not for preferences for me.

Those who campaigned only for their numbers were elected and I lost by a few hundred votes.

Q: Some say that the leader of the party is to be blamed for the consecutive defeats - what have you got to say?

A: Well, I don't agree with that. We have to accept responsibility for our defeat.

Buddhika Pathirana - Matara District

District representatives who were in power didn't live up to the expectations of the public and specially party supporters and that was why they lost the last election and it is of no relevance to point an accusing finger at the leadership for the party debacle.

Joseph Michael Perera Gampaha District

It is a widely accepted fact that there should be changes in the UNP constitution and we are right now in the process of seeking ideas from all relevant stakeholders of the party and within a short period we will scrutinise everything and would arrive at a suitable solution.

It is not possible for me to air my personal views as I am in the committee.

Thalatha Athukorale: Ratnapura District

It is an absolute necessity to make some drastic changes in the party mechanism to revive the party and guide it to victory at future elections for which the groundwork is now in progress.

I have submitted my proposals and we hope to work collectively on this and arrive at an acceptable solution as soon as possible.

Ranjith Madduma Bandara - Moneragala district

Decision-making power is centred around the leadership which is not a democratic feature in our party. We have been clamouring for changes at every successive defeat with no positive approach to remedy the problem. It is time that we implement the recommendations of the N.G.P. Panditharatne committee submitted in 2005 to restructure the party. Had we complied with those recommendations in 2005 we wouldn't have lost the subsequent elections.

Better future for UNP

It has been observed that from the leader of the party down to Pradeshiya Sabha members, all office-bearers including executive committee members are of the view that some changes should take place in the party to be positive of a future election victory.

The Think Tank of the party will formulate new strategies to suit the present requirements to garner public support and counter attack the government propaganda against the United National Party.

Since the ruling party has solidly consolidated its position, it will not be an easy task for the United National Party to bounce back unless and until an aggressive, people-friendly formidable campaign is launched in the near future.