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| Sunday, 16 March 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Politician par excellence - M.D. Banda Uniqueness is one thing. Extraordinariness is another thing. Exemplariness is yet another thing. It is very rarely that all these qualities are found in one and the same individual.
Yet, there was one such rare individual who possessed it all - the late Mr. M. D. Banda, a keen student and an excellent sportsman who shone in school and university, a tireless and efficient DRO who was both revered and adored by his people, a popular and highly respected politician for his capacity for result oriented work, a statesman with a clear and a pragmatic vision for the development of his country, and above all an uncompromisingly honest as well as sincere and humble gentleman in every aspect of his life. Uniqueness Born on 9th March 1914, at a village in Panaliya, Polgahawela, he lost both his parents at a very tender age. As though to compensate for this severe blow, he was endowed with sufficient property and wealth. But, in the absence of parental protection and care, these in turn had to be safeguarded from scheming and unscrupulous people who were bent on depriving this child of his inheritance. Under such circumstances normally any child would have succumbed to the stress and become quarrel some, obstinate, avaricious and hard hearted or, insecure, gullible, weak minded and a wastrel. But this particular child's uniqueness was such he did not fall prey to either. Instead, with grit and inner strength he cultivated a mind capable of being balanced, intelligent, far-sighted, honest, sincere and surprisingly generous as well. In fact he was perhaps the youngest ever to write to the then Governor of Ceylon Sir Hubert Stanley K.C.M.G. on the advice of his College Rector at St. Anthony's College, seeking Letters of Venia Aetatis, whereby he was conferred with the power of an adult to administer his own estates. Similarity is of a lotus rising above the plentiful of murkiness surrounding it, to blossom out in purity! Amidst all these constant irritations and unsettling distractions he went on to achieve excellence in studies and sports, even obtaining his B.A. (London). A unique individual indeed. Extraordinariness Just the other day - 28th of February 2003 - the woman Grama Sevaka of Panaliya, the birth place of M. D. Banda - visiting some houses in the area on call of duty, was feeling exhausted and thirsty in the scorching sun. The watcher of M. D. Banda's lands, seeing the plight of the G.S had brought her to Mrs. M. D. Banda. Over refreshments and in the course of the ensuing conversation, the Grama Sevika had told Mrs M. D. Banda that she had heard of the commemorative stamp to be issued in honour of late Mr. Banda for the invaluable services he had rendered to the people. Then, it had come as one of the biggest surprises in her life to learn from Mrs. Banda that the land of the very school where she had studied - 14 acres in extent, had also been donated by the late M. D. Banda in about 1950. A fact unknown to her and many other students like her who benefited directly from the school, along with thousands of others in the area. Further, there are two other schools as well in the Polgahawela area to which also he had donated 2 acres each. They did not know because M. D. Banda throughout his life never sought publicity for the magnanimous services he rendered. There are two temples as well in the area which are built on the lands donated by him. Back in 1942 during British rule, Banda as DRO, had endeared himself to the people of Udahewaheta by the warmth of his nature, the nobility of his character, and the singleminded devotion to his work. This was war time and food was scarce. D. S. Senanayake, Minister of Agriculture at the time, had appealed to the nation to launch food drives to starve off possible food shortages and starvation. The young M. B. Banda threw himself into his work with such enthusiasm that he is said to have transported manioc and sweet potato plants in his private car from his own lands at Polgahawela, to distribute among the poor to expand the area under cultivation. The campaign was such a success that it won the admiration of D. S. Senanayake who was touring the area. The growing popularity of the young DRO irked the Member for the State Council (MSC) and roused his envy. So much so, he brought false allegations against Mr. Banda at a public meeting and the British GA did not defend him though he knew very well how honestly and how hard his junior had worked. (It was later disclosed that the GA was hand in glove with the MSC who, ironically enough, was subsequently unseated on bribery charges). The crowd who knew the allegations were false, were angry and they were restrained with difficulty. But M. D. Banda, though his feelings were deeply hurt, did not utter a word. He went back to his office and resigned. News got round and there was an uproar in the village. Before the night was out people flocked to his residence to plead and persuade him to withdraw his resignation. But Banda was adamant. Then, in desperation they tried to influence him through D. S. Senanayake. But M. D. Banda would not budge. With that defiant and extraordinary act he sacrificed a much looked up to high profile career. But fate had other plans for him as the ensuing years demonstrated! Yet another, extraordinary, piece of history of this country is as follows; Having entered politics at the behest of Mr. D. S. Senanayake, M. D. Banda contested and won the Nuwara Eliya seat, beating a stalwart Mr. James Ratnam. However, his victory was challenged in courts. The charge was that a few of his supporters had obstructed certain voters from coming to the polling booth. Having studied the prevailing election rules, his lawyer advised him to just conveniently disown the offenders since they were not his elections agents, thereby ensuring an easy win in the case. Well, a lesser mortal would have done so, but not the uncompromisingly honest M. D. Banda. He said that he knew these people well and he also knew they were supporting him. In their eagerness perhaps they have caused this offence. Therefore he would not utter a lie and disown them. The lawyer, in anger, told him to get a 'nawagunawela' and forget about politics and walked out of the case for good. In the end, the charge was upheld and he lost the seat. During the course of the announcement of the verdict, the learned judge made reference to the extraordinary honesty of M. D. Banda who could have uttered a simple falsehood and won the case and retained the seat, but chose to be faithful too his conscience - an extraordinary man indeed. Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike paid him a glowing tribute in parliament thus; 'There are many in the opposition who are actually sheep, though garbed in lion clothing. But Member for Maturata M. D. Banda on the contrary is a true lion though garbed in sheep's clothing". This was in recognition of his fearlessness in parliamentary debates where he did not flinch from taking on adversaries of the calibre of Prime Minister Bandaranaike himself. Such were the extraordinary leadership qualities displayed as the leader of a small band of only 8 members from UNP in the aftermath of 1956 debacle. That statement of the late Premiergenerally sums up the extraordinary character of M. D. Banda - as much as he is humble and calm in disposition and extremely honest in all his dealings, he never shied away from demonstrating an indomitable spirit, when required to face up to an opposition of whatever magnitude. Exemplariness It is widely believed that it was MD Banda who mooted the idea of Employees Provident Fund, during his tenure as Minister of Labour from 1950-52 though it was another Minister who presented it in parliament after 1956. It was in keeping with his nature not to hark after accolades for the good work he started, as long as the people could derive the benefits from his initiatives. M. D. Banda has demonstrated this exemplary quality in him throughout his life. The modern railway station he built inclusive of restaurants, rest rooms and ample space at Polgahawela which is a very busy railway junction teeming with thousands of commuters every day, never had a plaque mentioning the name of the person who built it. Years after his death only a plaque bearing his name was installed. Any interested person who could take the trouble to visit the tremendous number of beneficial projects and facilities he completed for the welfare of the people of Maturata, Hanguranketa and Polgahawela (the electorates he represented in parliament) will be surprised beyond belief that so many of those have no inscriptions to show who was responsible for those great deeds. Squandering public money on self-grandiose attempts never found favour with M. D. Banda - an exemplary statesman indeed. During various governments wherein he held different portfolios, most of the victims of politically motivated transfers ended up in his ministry. He never victimized anybody on political grounds. He only placed a high premium on quality of work, irrespective of political affiliations. He did not discriminate against anybody on ethnicity, religion or caste grounds either. George Keyt the famous painter used too narrate a remarkable episode about him - The parents of a 'low caste' boy had come to Keyt with their woe. Their little son had been sacked from school, because the parents of the other children had threatened to remove their children from school. Keyt decided to write to the Minister of Education, M. D. Banda, not expecting much. To his amazement, not only did a directive to reinstate the boy come but it came in double quick time. Defeat Yet another lesser known story is that of his official driver from the Ministry of Agriculture (1965-70) who was a noted SLFP supporter. Many a faithful had wanted the man removed which he resisted. By the year 1970 with the tremendous success of the food drive (though it was ridiculed for narrow political advantage by opposition parties) this driver who drove M. D. Banda around the country and witnessed the progress for himself, had become one of his staunchest supporters. How this driver broke down and cried like a child cursing the ignorant of the country, at the foot of M. D. Banda when he lost his seat in 1970 was heart wrenching. M. D. Banda pacified the man and only said that people seem to think differently. He took defeat too in an exemplary manner. Although the voters of the country failed to respond positively to the quest for self sufficiency in rice that M. D. Banda spearheaded, (due mostly to being mislead by opposition politicians) his successor from SLFP, Minister Hector Kobbekaduwe paid tribute to Banda as the man who ushered in the era of scientific agriculture in Sri Lanka. Further, the International Rice Research Institute in Manila lost no time in appointing him to their Board of Trustees in recognition of his enormous service to agriculture of his country. He was appointed in his individual capacity and continued to hold the post even when he was no longer Minister. This unique honour has never been bestowed on a Sri Lankan before or since. Although he walked amongst the highest of the world as equals, his undying desire always was to uplift the living standards of the people he served, which task he fulfilled in great measure, as history bears ample testimony - an exemplary statesman of the highest calibre indeed. (S.L) |
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