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Sunday, 15 August 2010

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Reforms to be effected shortly :

New party constitution in the offing

The United National Party which was formed by its founder leader D.S. Senanayake with the support of all communities in 1946 has rendered an invaluable service to the nation from its inception under a number of leaders.

Sri Lanka, then Ceylon obtained independence under the able leadership of Right Honourable D.S. Senanayake from the British Empire and governed this country introducing a new political culture and implementing a number of development projects in order to uplift the socio economic standards of the countrymen. With the untimely demise of D.S. his son, Dudley took over the reigns and the leadership of the party and continued to guide the nation performing the unfinished work of his father fairly successfully.

However, in mid way though his second term Dudley’s health was not at its best who also knew that Sir John was anxiously aspiring to be the leader which resulted in Dudley stepping down from politics and the leadership of the party, paving the way for Sir John to take over the reins.

Sir John Kothalawela who was a military man was straightforward, honest and a very rigid politician who never hesitated to call a spade a spade. He was confronted with disagreements with some progressive forces of the day including trade unionists and even Maha Sangha was not spared by him in his verbal assaults over certain vital issues where everybody was concerned.

The popularity of the United National Party faded away during the latter part of Sir John’s tenure mainly due to his unpolitical attitude.

First debacle of UNP

United National Party was swept out of power at the subsequent election held in 1956 reducing its strength in the parliament to a mere 8 members. It was the first ever defeat suffered by the UNP since its formation in 1946 which had rendered a great service to the nation irrespective of any differences.

It was the general belief of the entire membership that the defeat suffered by the party was mainly due to the unrealistic and unacceptable manner in which Sir John handled the affairs and the barrage of verbal attacks launched by him on Maha Sangha which caused the downfall of the UNP.

Sir John Kothalawela realized his political folly and bade ‘good bye’ to politics and lived in wilderness until he passed away on 2nd October 1980.SLFP headed by S.W.R.D. was in power for few years and after assassination of SWRD, there were dramatic changes in SLFP.

Dudley Senanayake was re-invited by the UNP membership to take over the party for which he obliged and bounced back to power twice in 1960 for short periods. Dudley Senanayake formed a stable government in 1965 with the help of minority communities and discharged a great service to the nation giving priority to agricultural development process of the country and establishing inter-communal harmony.

1970 General election

United National Party lost again in 1970 general election and Dudley Senanayake passed away in 1973 while being a Member of the Opposition. The mammoth crowd that thronged at the Independent square for Dudleys funeral bear ample testimony for the affection and respect that he commanded from his beloved countrymen irrespective of any differences.

After Dudley Senanayake’s death, the undisputed deputy leader of the party J.R. Jayewardene took over the leadership and fully re-organised the party with dramatic changes in all levels of its entire mechanism.

In 1977 general election J.R. Jayewardene received the highest ever mandate in Sri Lankan election history marking a historic victory of over five sixth majority in parliament. JRJ formed a very effective Cabinet with his able lieutenants and allowed them to establish their own political empires. He immediately brought constitutional changes and introduced the Executive Presidency. He became the first Executive President of the country.

He continued both his terms quite successfully. He was considered as an epoch maker in the Sri Lankan political history as he introduced vast changes in all spheres of the lives of countrymen with his farsighted vision.

JRJ retires

J.R. Jayewardene stepped down from politics after completing his second term and, Ranasinghe Premadasa took over the party who had been preparing himself to achieve same working as the Prime Minister under JR’s Presidency. Ranasinghe Premadasa was also successful in winning the Presidential election contesting with Sirimavo Bandaranaike and became the second Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1989.

He too launched a number of people friendly development programs such as, Janasaviya, Gam Udawa 1.5 million housing scheme, introduction of 200 garment factories, to name a few. The biggest blunder that Premadasa did was that he virtually sidelined the two promising stalwarts in the party, Lalith Athulathumdali and Gamini Dissanayake, later on who turned against him with an impeachment motion with the support of the opposition. However, he managed to overcome the impeachment motion and sailed through the political turmoil in the party.

Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated on 1st of May 1993 by a suicide bomber and D.B. Wijetunga, the then Prime Minister became the President of Sri Lanka. There were a number of dramatic changes in the party and national politics during the period of 1993 to 1994 and finally UNP who ruled the country for 17 years was defeated by a single majority vote in the house under the new leadership of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga and at the subsequent Presidential election she comprehensively defeated the UNP candidate and became the President of Sri Lanka.

The gradual deterioration of United National Party commenced with the impeachment motion which intensified with the subsequent Presidential election in 1994.

Ranil takes over

Ranil Wickremesinghe took over the leadership of the United National Party in 1994 and managed to form a government in 2001 with the able assistance of a breakaway group of six other members including the then General Secretary of SLFP S.B. Dissanayake.

But he was unable to consolidate and continue in power since President Kumaranatunge was influenced and instigated by JVP and Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriaarachchi to dissolve the government. Ranil Wickremesinghe submitted an affidavit commanding the support of 131 members in the parliament but President Kumaranatunge used her prerogative and dissolved the government.

UNP was defeated at the 2004 general election and since then the public support to the party had been dwindling at every successive election held so far. With every successive election defeat some of the party members pointed the finger at leadership and wanted some changes to be made in the party mechanism.

But with the humiliating defeat suffered by the party at the last Presidential election and the subsequent general election, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s leadership had been openly challenged by Sajith Premadasa and he is prepared to guide the party provided he is elected the leader by majority vote.

During the last few months most of the UNP parliamentarians were virtually divided into two groups, as Ranil’s group and Sajith’s group.

However, with the acceptance of reforms proposals by the executive committee and the leadership the internal party differences seem to be fading away and the positive signs have emerged among all the members at the executive meeting held at UNP Headquarters Sirikotha last Wednesday the 10th August 2010 chaired by Ranil Wickremesinghe.

All the front line members have agreed to discuss matters amicably and consensually without jeopardising the membership at large. All the UNP parliamentarians have agreed with one voice to oppose the governments arbitrary actions on vital issues and to educate the general public through protest campaigns.The proposed reforms submitted by various quarters will be properly scrutinized and implemented after ratifying by a national convention which will be held in due course.

Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa will discuss political matters in detail and arrive at appropriate decisions soon. There were a large number of seasoned and moderate minded senior members who were really worried about some developments in the party but with the outcome of last executive meeting they have had a sigh of relief and some hope about the future.Some theoreticians, political analysts and some politically motivated media personnel make different views and try to paint a gloomy picture about the UNP, its leader and some of the front line members of the party.

Some of the vociferous speakers of the party who constantly clamour for reforms should realise that they should not fall prey to the traps set up by opportunistic forces who try to destroy the grand old party but to work in harmony with the leadership and sort out matters with consultation, compromise and consensus.

A new party constitution will be drafted shortly with the proposals and suggestions submitted by the interested parties which will be ratified by a national convention and all stalwarts and the incumbent leadership had agreed to implement same in the near future.

 

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