UNP's downfall - division among the top brass

By Jaliya WIJEYEKOON

Sri Lanka, with a recorded history of over 2,500 years, was under British rule for 133 years from 1815.

The British rule made a great impact on the spheres, of socio-economic standards, culture, civilisation, religion and education of the country. However, with the passage of time Sri Lanka's great leaders of yesteryear realised the importance of national independence and started the freedom struggle against the British Empire.

The relentless campaign that continued for a long time paid dividends eventually Sri Lanka achieved independence on February 4, 1948 - under the able leadership of D.S. Senanayake.

In 1946 D.S. Senanayake formed the United National Party with the support of other community leaders and it was not difficult for him to command the respect of the entire nation as he had a broad vision for the future of the country. The party policies formulated by D.S. Senanayake and his lieutenants attracted the majority support of all communities irrespective of any differences.

Being under the British rule for a long period, the mentality of our countrymen then was rather different and the influence created in the public was fully advantageous to the United National Party (UNP) which took a pro-Right path in governing the country. The UNP appointed people of calibre who commanded the respect of the people for all electorates and most of them won their seats at the elections.

Party fraternity

Some of the top rung members of the UNP were close relations or inter-connected in some way or the other. In addition, the UNP always looked into the family background, social status, education and the financial stability of the people before fielding them as party candidates.

The biggest allegation levelled against the UNP by the Left movement at that time was that the UNP was a rich man's party and there was no room for ordinary people to represent it as it belonged to the elite, the English-speaking society. The UNP was branded as the Uncle Nephew Party or Unge Nedeyange Pakshaya.

The progressive left movement led by leftists such as Dr. N.M.Perera, Philip Gunawardene and Leslie Gunawardene indoctrinated the downtrodden masses with a Marxist political philosophy and attracted the people to their movement with their eloquent Sinhala oratorical skills. The left movement consolidated its position in certain areas in the country which were represented by its leaders. These lenders inculcated and developed a certain degree of animosity in the minds of masses towards the affluent society while representing their interests in the August assembly.

However, D.S. Senanayake with his broad vision for the future of the country and with support from his Cabinet members such as S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, T.B. Jayah, Arunachalem Mahadeva, S. Nadesan, J. L. Kothalawala, George E. de Silva, A.R.A. Razik, Dudley Senanayake and J.R. Jayewardene steered the country towards prosperity by launching a number of agricultural development projects.

D.S. Senanayake, who was known as accredited Father of Rural Peasantry, was fully ambitious of making this country self-sufficient in its staple food and establishing complete inter-communal harmony. All this development projects were centered around these two aspects.

D.S. Senanayake was well poised to lead the country towards a brighter future at the time of his sudden death, falling off his horse while on his regular exercises at the Galle Face Green. After his death, his eldest son, Dudley who was the Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet, was appointed as the Prime Minister by Lord Soulbury, the then Governor of Independence Ceylon based on an understanding that he had with D.S.Senanayake prior to the latter's untimely demise.

Mild-Mannered Politician

Dudley Senanayake, a Cambridge scholar, became the party leader as well and guided the party to victory at the election in 1953, held well ahead of the due date.

He received a two-third majority in Parliament and was unanimously elected Prime Minister for the second consecutive term.

However, with the passage of time, his second term turned out to be not too rosy for him as there were some conflicts and differences of opinion on various issues from his own party stalwarts. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike broke away from the party and formed the MEP while Sir John Kotelawala targeted the prestigious position of Prime Minister.

Sir John was not happy with Dudley Senanayake's leadership and went out of the country for a brief period and wrote a book title Agamethi Parapura. He returned to the island and had constant conflicts with Dudley over various issues. Dudley, who was a calm and mild mannered leader stepped down from the leadership and politics claiming a prolonged stomach ailment, paving the way for Sir John to take over the reins.

Sir John was a straight-forward, outspoken, honest and rigid leader who never failed to call a spade a spade. But as a major political party leader, he miserably failed in his duties and had constant problems with trade unionists and even with the Maha Sangha on various issues. He went for a general election in 1956 and the UNP suffered its first ever debacle under his leadership, reducing it strength in the House to a mere eight members.

Sir John left politics and never came back, and lived in isolation till he passed away in 1979.

After the humiliating defeat suffered by the UNP at the 1956 elections and Sir John's retirement from politics, the entire membership of the party requested Dudley Senanayake to take over the leadership again and re-organise the party.

The United National Party had a marginal victory at the 1960 March elections and was defeated again in July the same year.

Dudley Senanayake and J.R. Jayewardene joined hands, re-organised the party and formed a stable government in 1965 with the support of six other parties in an alliance which came to be known as the Hath Haula.

Dudley was also a firm believer in the development of agriculture in the country and paid more attention on making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in rice production. But it is the general belief that his government from 1965-1970 was deceived by government officials over the unrealistic cultivation drive and was rejected by the masses comprehensively at the 1970 elections.

After the death of Dudley Senanayake, the deputy leader of the UNP J. R. Jayewardene became the leader of the party. J.R.J., an astute politician who had gone through the mill, with his ocean of knowledge of practical politics, completely revamped the party mechanism from grass roots level to the top front. That was the first time in the United National Party history that young blood from ordinary background were selected and appointed as electoral organisers for a number of rural electorates in the island. Jayewardene groomed leaders such as Gamini Dissanayake, R. Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali and Dr. Ananda Tissa de Alwis to play secondary roles in the party.

The United Front government headed by Sirimavo Bandaranaike, from 1970 to 77, had to face many a problem and with scarecities of essential food items, it gradually became weak, losing all by-elections held. J.R.J. felt the pulse of the people and launched an aggressive campaign against the government with different types of protests including Satyagrahas.

An admirable quality in his leadership was that he unconditionaly supported Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1971 when the stability of the government was threatened by the JVP which committed many atrocities.

JR resigns

Jayewardene resigned from his parliamentary seat after completing five years as a mark of protest against the extension of the term of Parliament by two years by the Sirimavo government. At the by-election he returned to Parliament with a thumping majority.

Jayewardene had formulated the party policy and election manifesto well before the election and presented them to the membership.

The United Front government was comprehensively defeated at the 1977 General Election and J.R. received a mammoth five-sixth majority. Leaders of various parties such as Dr. N. M. Perera, Philip Gunawardene, Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Dr. S. A. Wickremesinghe, Colvin R. de Silva, Peter Keunamen, Bernard Soysa and P. B. G. Kalugalle were unseated and were driven to political wilderness.

Epoch-maker

Jayewardene was an epoch-maker in post-independent Sri Lanka and no one can deny the fact that vast strides were made in all spheres including socio-economic standards of the people. Mega development programs initiated by him paved the way to enhance the living standards of all Sri Lankans.

He liberalised the economy and opened doors for foreign investors by which a large number of employment opportunities were created in the country in the service sector and manufacturing sector and among other fields.

After completing his second term, Jayewardene retired from politics and Ranasinghe Premadasa took over the leadership which he had being aspiring for, for sometime as JR's deputy.

Common man

Ranasinghe Premadasa, though not from the elite class was a practical politician who started his political career with his mentor, Labour Leader A. E. Goonesinghe. He had moved right along with the ordinary people in the city and correctly read the pulse of the people while accumulating a vast knowledge about everything in society. Being Prime Minister under J.R.J. he initiated a number of development programs to alleviate the suffering of the people. A housing program, Janasaviya Movement, village reawakening campaign and opening of 200 garment factories were some of the major projects undertaken by him which consolidated the party's position in the country as well as Premadasa's position in the party.

People were immensely benefited by these programs and remained with the party even when some of the prominent figures of the party tried to oust Premadasa from the Presidency and the UNP leadership.

Premadasa was not only a man who worked for the people of the country, but was also a man who accepted any challenge in the House and stood steadfast to defeat the opponent. The way he handled the Impeachment Motion brought against him bore ample testimony to his courage and aptitude. It was a well-heard statement then that "The Oxbridge combination failed to beat Kehelwatte."

However, it is the general belief of some of the neutral party members that the downfall of the United National Party commenced with the breaking away of Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and other senior members who formed a new party - for which position Premadasa was fully responsible.

Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993 and there were immediate and dramatic changes in the party which were not advantageous or beneficial to the party membership. At the next Parliamentary and Presidential elections held in 1994, the UNP was defeated by the People's Alliance (PA) headed by Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Opposition Leader and Leader of the UNP.

Ranil forms government

Although the United National Party managed to form a government under Ranil's leadership with the assistance of the breakaway group of the PA headed by its General Secretary S. B. Dissanayake in 2001, he was not able to consolidate this victory and continue due to a number of reasons.

The Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that Ranil Wickremesinghe signed with Velupillai Prabhakaran, even without the knowledge of his Cabinet colleagues, was one of the main reasons for the party's downfall. No doubt that the CFA weakened the LTTE movement to some extent, but the UNP couldn't reap the rewards as numerous other complications arose subsequently.

Another main reason for the downfall of Wickremesinghe's government was the cessation of new recruitments to the State sector by a Gazette notification issued by Charitha Ratwatte, Secretary to the Treasury. Young qualified employment aspirants lost faith in the UNP as a result.

In the meantime, the opposition including the JVP launched an aggressive campaign and Ranil's government came to an end in 2004. Since then, the UNP has performed pathetically at all subsequent elections.

After the humiliating defeat suffered by the party at the last General Election, Ranil Wickremesinghe's leadership has been challenged by Hambantota district young parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa backed by some stalwarts in the party. Some claim that the UNP would never bounce back to power under Ranil's leadership.

It is quite appropriate to analyse the political and ground situation of the country before making allegations against anybody. A comprehensive assessment of the present situation would prove that the reason for the UNP's erosion is not the fault of its leader but the vast strides made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, mainly in respect of achieving peace in the country after crushing the brutal LTTE terrorism which had been a cancer to the nation for over two and a half decades.

Sri Lankans all over the country, irrespective of any differences had experienced uncertainty, horror, trauma and loss of hope for well over two decades due to terrorism.

Now the situation is different and anybody can move about anywhere in the country, without fear. Except for some sporadic scuffles created by mischief makers, peace prevails in the country.

This was the main reason for President Rajapaksa's government to consolidate its position at successive elections. People are grateful to the government for ushering in peace which three of the past National leaders failed to achieve.

It is the general belief among the grassroots level membership of the UNP that in addition to the achievement of peace by the government, the other main reason for the UNP's downfall is the division among the top brass of the party and the total lack of discipline among some of the vociferous parliamentarians. The UNP grassroots level membership is completely demoralised over these negative developments and is in a quandary as to what action they should take to save the party from further erosion.

It has been observed during the past few weeks that almost everyday there are press briefings, attacks, counter-attacks and protests launched by reformist group members as well as by members of the other faction, which is totally detrimental to the party's forward march when the final slot of local elections are just round the corner.

Now the time is ripe for everybody in the UNP to shed their differences and work as a single unit to win some consolation at the forthcoming local elections.

It is the fervent hope of the grass root level membership of the party that Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa, Karu Jayasuriya and the other top runners of the UNP unite, share the responsibilities and launch an aggressive campaign at the Colombo Municipal Council election to secure a comfortable victory for the party so that they can heave a sigh of relief and rekindle hope that the UNP would bounce back to power at a future General election.

Unless all leaders of the party immediately unite and work as a single unit and re-establish the lost glory of the party it is inevitable that there will be more "Rienzie Algamas" in the near future.