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| Sunday, 19 December 2004 |
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Features |  |
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Memoirs of Sirima R.D.Bandaranaike : Some world leaders I have met
Those world leaders whom I met and impressed me were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and President Tito, President Nasser and Chou-en-Lai. What struck me most was the dedication and sincerity of those leaders to their country's cause. I met Pandit Nehru for the 1st time in 1956 in London when I accompanied my husband to London for the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. He was accompanied by his daughter Indira. Besides meeting at official parties, the Queen's banquet, British PMs party, I remember my husband and I were invited to the home of the Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten which was in the countryside Broadlands. P. N. Nehru and his sister Mrs. Wijayalakshmi Pandit who was High Commissioner for India at the time were the only other guests. We spent the evening there and left after dinner. It was a fabulous house with vast acreages of land with their own farm orchard etc.
During the few hours we spent there together I was able to learn a great deal listening to the conversations between Pandit Nehru, Lord Mountbatton, Mrs. Pandit and my husband, the man who was responsible for granting Independence to India. He was India's viceroy for a period. It was altogether an interesting and memorable occasion for me. Returning to London after dinner, we gave a lift to Mrs. Pandit as Pandit Nehru with whom she came was spending the weekend at Broadlands. Since then I had secured an opportunity of meeting him when he came to Sri Lanka for the Buddha Jayanthi celebrations as the Chief Guest on the invitation of my late husband SWRD who was in 1957 PM and, twice, when I was PM. On every occasion Indira accompanied him. I met Indira too for the first time when Lady Eden invited the wives of PMs and daughters for tea to 10, Downing Street, (the British PM's official residence). Then again at the Non-Aligned Summit in Belgrade and PM's Conference in 1960 and when I visited India on an official visit. When Panditje heard the news of the death of SWRD, he declared a public holiday even before Ceylon did.
Shortly after I was elected PM in 1960 Nehru extended an invitation to me and my children to come to India for a holiday on a pilgrimage. I requested that it should not be an official visit as I was still in mourning and I did not wish to attend functions and parties, which is normally extended to heads of governments. We visited Madras, Bangalore, Mysore before going to Delhi and from Delhi we visited the Buddhist shrine Buddha Gaya, Saranath, Sanchi, Ellore. We did all this by a special plane sent by Nehru to Sri Lanka to take us. While in Delhi we were his guests at his official residence. 'Teen Murti' which is now the Nehru Museum. During our stay there Panditje was going to address a public meeting in Delhi in the huge grounds known as 'Ramlela' grounds. He visited me and asked me to join him so I accompanied him. There was a small platform with just four chairs. Panditje, myself and one other occupied the platform. It was very high apparently for security reasons and also to enable the people to see the speaker. There was a milling crowd of easily over a lakh. He perched himself on the edge of the table with his feet on the railing that was round the stage and spoke for nearly 2 hours. He was the only speaker. Of course I didn't understand a word of what he said as he spoke in Hindi. I was observing the reaction of the crowds who were all seated down listening to the man they loved and revered. His last visit to Ceylon was in 1962 at my special invitation to open the Bandaranaike Ayurvedic Research Centre at Nawinna. It was very gracious of him to accept my invitation at that time because it was during the Sino-Indian war. He just came for one night. He said in his speech at the opening that he came in spite of the busy schedule at home because it was in memory of his friend SWRD. That was a great gesture on his part to have come in spite of the fact that India was in the midst of a war with China. He was accompanied by his daughter Indira. Reproduced with the kind permission of ANCL Editorial Consultant Malalgoda Bandutilleke custodian of the manuscript and pictures. |
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