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| Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
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September 25, 1959 : When time stood still
On this day September 25 forty six years ago the most high handed attempt on a valued life was made in the very heart of Colombo at the private residence of the then Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. The victim was none other than the Prime Minister himself who succumbed to injuries the following day bringing to an end an illustrious life and halting for all time his hopes to emancipate the broad mass of people who had been deprived the plums even after liberation from the foreign yoke. Today, we carry so far unpublished notes from his diary sometimes handwritten but mostly typewritten by Mr. Bandaranaike himself which record early events in his political career. During the first State Council I acted more than once for the Minister of Local Administration, Mr. C. Batuwantudawa. In 1936 I was once again returned unopposed and was appointed Minister of Local Administration. As Minister, I remodelled all the local-governing Ordinances, i.e., the V.C. Ordinance, the Urban Councils Ordinance, the Municipal Councils Ordinance. I abolished the unrepresentative Sanitary Boards and established Town Councils in their place. I established the Local Government Service Commission, and started Community Centres. I brought forward proposals for the establishment of Regional Councils which were accepted by the State Council (but this was finally disapproved by the Cabinet in 1950). This proposal has now been accepted by the Choksy Commission Report. I abolished the Poll Tax which was levied by Village Committees.
In 1946 I acted for Mr. D. S. Senanayake as Chief Minister when he went to England to discuss Constitutional problems. In that capacity I introduced the Budget for that year. At the beginning of 1947 I played the chief part in the formation of the UNP which was formed by discussions between myself and the leaders of certain other Parties, e.g., the Ceylon National Congress, the Muslim League, the Moors' Association etc. The Constitution of the UNP was chiefly drafted by me. At the inaugural meeting of the Party it was I who proposed that Mr. D. S. Senanayake be elected president of the Party. In 1947 I was elected for the Attanagalla Constituency (the name "Veyangoda" being changed to "Attanagalla) to the new Parliament under the Soulbury Constitution. I defeated my opponent, Mr. Chandra Gunasekera, a Sama Samajist candidate, by a majority of over 26,000 votes, which was a record majority up to that time. Best interests of the country Many people thought that I made a mistake in agreeing to the formation of the UNP and felt that I should have fought the elections through the Sinhala Maha Sabha. But I took this step, as I thought at the time, in the best interests of the country and willingly subordinated myself to Mr. D. S. Senanayake. If I had not taken this step the UNP would never have been formed; and I had the best chance of becoming Prime Minister in 1947. After the Election a number of Members came to see me and promised to get the signatures of over 50 Members saying that they wished to have me as Prime Minister and not Mr. D. S. Senanayake. But I was loyal to the UNP and Mr. D. S. Senanayake, and refused this offer. Mr. D. S. Senanayake came to see me when he was chosen Prime Minister. He told me that I was the first person he had come to see, and offered me any Ministry I chose to take (except the Ministry of Agriculture to which he wanted to appoint Mr. Dudley Senanayake). I chose the Ministry of Local Administration and Health, and I was appointed to that office and also made Leader of the House of Representatives. When the Duke of Gloucester inaugurated the new Constitution granting us Dominion Status, on February 4, 1948, I replied on behalf of the House of Representatives, and Lord Soulbury and others spoke in the highest terms of praise of my speech. Indeed Lord Soulbury said that the whole function was made worthwhile by my speech. On many occasions I brought strongly to the notice of my Cabinet colleagues by memoranda and otherwise the need to deal with many of our pressing problems in a way to make freedom a reality to our people, but all my suggestions were shelved. Finally, in 1951 the Sinhala Maha Sabha passed a number of resolutions dealing with economic issues, language, religion, the position of the Public Servants, etc., and sent them to the UNP for consideration. Mr. D. S. Senanayake refused even to consider these resolutions, holding that the Sinhala Maha Sabha had no right to send resolutions to the UNP, although this had been done ever since the formation of the UNP till that occasion. No alternative This left me no alternative but to leave the UNP and I resigned in July 1951. People throughout the country acclaimed my resignation and I was inundated with letters and telegrams of congratulation; and people streamed into my house to congratulate me day and night. When I made my speech in Parliament explaining my reasons for resignation, the applause from the Opposition Benches continued for many minutes. Mr. A. P. Jayasuriya, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Posts; Mr. George R. de Silva, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, and Messrs Jayaweera Kuruppu, D. A. Rajapakse, D. S. Goonesekera left the Government ranks and joined me in the Opposition. Soon after, in consultation with many supporters, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was formed. There was a mammoth gathering present at the Town Hall, Colombo at the inaugural meeting. A wave of hope passed through the people that was the beginning of a new era and that the country would before long see real progress. In 1952, after the unfortunate death of Mr. D. S. Senanayake, the Government decided to hold a snap Election. The SLFP had been in existence only a few months, but it came second to the UNP in the total number of votes polled, polling 400,000 to the UNP's 1,000,000. It was also the only Opposition Party that succeeded in wresting seats from the UNP, e.g. at Polonnaruwa, Matale, Kadugannawa, Mawanella, Baddegama and Gampaha. Advancement of Ayurveda As Minister of Health I stamped out Malaria with the help of D.D.T. This work had been started by the previous Minister, Mr. George E. de Silva, but it was carried through to complete success by me. I obtained experts to deal with T.B. and reorganised T.B. work in this country. Regarding Ayurveda, I was Chairman of the Ayurvedic Board about 15 years ago, and persuaded the Government to recognise Ayurveda and the Ayurvedic institutions, and take over the institutions connected with the Ayurvedic College as a Government Department. This was of great help to the advancement of Ayurveda, as earlier only a small annual grant had been made. When I was Minister of Local Government I initiated the scheme for the preservation of the old town of Anuradhapura and the building of a new city. For this purpose I obtained an expert who, with the present town planner, drew up a scheme. I had to overcome much opposition in putting this scheme through, but finally it was accepted by the Government, and Mr. D. S. Senanayake and I inaugurated the new city in 1949 at a mammoth meeting at Anuradhapura. About 20-years-ago, I started a number of textile centres in my area. I grew the cotton required myself in the Hambantota District, and the spinning and weaving was done in these centres. The national dress I wear is from cloth woven in these centres, many of which are still flourishing. One centre at Kottala, Veyangoda, was opened by Pandit Nehru, when he visited Ceylon about 25 years ago. I am very accessible to the poorest people, who come to see me daily from morning to evening. From the beginning the larger portion of my income has been spent on various public works - religious, educational etc. In the last 25 years I have not had one month's holiday. Source: Editorial Consultant, Malalgoda Bandutilleke |
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