N. M. I knew

By V. Anandasangaree

One evening in December 1959 I was summoned by Dr. N.M. Perera to his residence at Cambell Place at Punchi Borella and asked by him to contest on the L.S.S.P. Ticket, the Kilinochchi electorate, to which I was a total stranger, with hardly a friend or a relation known to me, except that I had passed through Kilinochchi to and from Colombo.

It was just after the Colombo Municipal Council elections at which I was a candidate nominated by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party to contest with the U.N.P. Stalwart and mayor of Colombo, the late Hon. V.A. Sugathadasa. Realizing my reluctance to accept my nomination to an electorate about 50 miles away from my place of birth, where I would be a total stranger, comrade N.M. as we affectionately called him, advised me to accept.

Nomination, since I was selected among a few applications having been found as the most suitable one for a working class electorate like Kilinochchi and prophetically assured of victory within ten years.

So in 1970 when I was returned to Parliament from the Kilinochchi electorate a local national daily carried a news item under the caption N.M.'s prophecy comes true. During these ten long years a lot of changes had taken place in the political field. It was very unfortunate that at the time I won a seat, I was no more in the L.S.S.P. but I concede that it was the L.S.S.P. Base that I had in Kilinochchi, made me win that seat.

I always had the highest regards for comrade N.M. and also respected him as my political guru. I never attacked him in Parliament. In my view N.M. was infallible. I started my politics as a Youth Leaguer of the L.S.S.P. in the early fifties and got very close to him in 1960. Although there were other socialist parties operating at that time, it was the admiration I had for Dr. N.M. Perera in particular and for some other leaders like comrades Dr. Colvin R. De Silva, Bernard Soyza, Leslie Goonewardena, Vivienne Goonewardena, A. Viswanathan ex-senator, P. Nagalingam and some others, that made me to join the L.S.S.P. I was also the President of the Kotahena branch of the L.S.S.P. Youth League and had our office at Barber Street, Colombo.

Comrade N.M. was great leader and a statesman whose value was not realized by the Sinhalese and the Tamils in particular. It may not be out of place if I make reference to a speech by me 25 years back in 1980 at the annual conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association held at Lusaka in Zambia, attended by me along with the then Speaker Hon. M.H. Mohamed, Hon. W.J.M. Lokkubandara and the late Hon. Maithripala Senanayake. I had to speak on the advantages of "one Party" system in comparison to the "Multi Party System". At the meeting chaired by the then speaker of the Zambian Parliament, in reference to Dr. N.M. Perera I said, "It is because of the multi party system prevailing in Sri Lanka those eminent personalities like Dr. N.M. Perera, holder of double doctorate and a contemporary of the great Kenyan Freedom Fighter Dr. Jomo Kenyatta, had to go into political wilderness". Dr. Jomo Kenyatta who became the Prime Minister later was President of the Republic of Kenya.

The view expressed by me in Lusaka was raised in our Parliament by somebody. Objecting the multi party system does not mean that I am in favour of one party rule. Let us not forget that we have over fifty political parties in Sri Lanka today. I am still of the view that the multi party system prevailing in our country is not only the cause of several evils but has deprived the country of the proper services of just and honourable men like Dr. N.M. The suffering of the Tamils today is party, I would say fully due to the lack of foresightness on the part of the Tamil leaders. The problem of the Tamils started with the passing of the Citizenship Act which the L.S.S.P. vehemently opposed. In fact the entire leftist group voted against the bill in Parliament.

On the official language issue, the L.S.S.P. took a firm stand and advocated parity of status for both the Sinhala and Tamil languages. I very distinctly remember how a bomb was thrown at comrade N.M. while he was addressing a public meeting in the Old Town Hall, defending his official language policy. I remember with gratitude, comrade Reginold Mendis who lost one of his limbs in trying to save comrade N.M. who narrowly escaped death. I believe that this was the first political assassination ever attempted in Sri Lanka. I saw with my own eyes how a violent mob, that assembled outside Parliament when it was debating the "Sinhala as the only Official Language Bill" on the fifth of June 1956 cursing the L.S.S.P. leaders in indecent language and demanding the heads of comrade N.M. and those of other members of Parliament.

I admit that the lack of foresight on the part of the Tamil leadership contributed to a great extent in preventing comrade N.M. Perera from taking over the reigns of government. Instead he had to serve as a subordinate to others. Some of my colleagues in the Tamil United Liberation Front had admitted to me that the Tamil parties should have given at least one seat for the L.S.S.P. from the North as a token of appreciation for the stand taken by the L.S.S.P. on the official language and the citizenship issues, in which case the country would have been different today.

I faced the 1965 general elections also on the L.S.S.P. Ticket and left it with the May Day of the same year. In my letter of resignation sent to comrade N.M. when I quit the L.S.S.P, I accused him of failing in his duty to prevent the communal trend in the party. After many years I realized that it was a hasty decision of an immature young politician of 32 years. At that time I failed to realize that I should not have taken seriously a few anti Tamil slogans shouted at a May Day rally and found fault with the leadership for the outburst of a handful of frustrated sincere party worker, who could not bear the defeat of the party, which championed the cause of the Tamils.

With limited power and in spite of the obstacles placed by some reactionary forces within the Coalition Govt. of 1970, comrade N.M. as Minister of Finance proved his capacity beyond any doubt. Apart from many other progressive proposals, he very cleverly brought out billions of hoarded black money by declaring currency notes of higher denomination invalid. Unfortunately he was not given a free hand to show his real capacity. It may not be out of place if I mention here that the Foreign Exchange allowed to me and to other Parliamentarian when we went on a delegation to the United Kingdom in 1972, was only three pounds. Comrade N.M. was a real miser as far as conserving foreign exchange was concerned. He was acting in the best interest of the country.

I have a lot of interesting things to narrate about N.M. He liked me a lot and never refused any of my requests as finance minister. When he paid a visit to Kilinochchi in his official capacity to open a branch of the National Savings Bank I could not attend the function although it was at my request that he decided to open a branch at Kilinochchi.

Although the TULF organized a black flag demonstration I refused to take part in it and the TULF approved it.

In the good old days when L.S.S.P. leaders visited Jaffna propaganda meetings we had made it a practice to hold the first meeting at the Kilinochchi market square on Saturday where people from all parts of Kilinochchi meet to transact business.

Then we proceed to Jaffna for more meetings. On one such Saturday when both of us were going to Jaffna after a meeting at Kilinochchi, comrade N.M. asked me about my chances of winning the Kilinochchi electorate, for which I promptly said, "Don't worry comrade I am winning". Comrade NM roared with laughter and patting my back said, "That's why I like you, man", I remember giving the same answer to him to a similar questioning of his, during the Municipal Council election in Colombo. I am only sorry that Sri Lanka failed to make use of this genius, who could have changed the destiny of our country. I owe a lot to him. I am grateful to him. I thank the commemorative committee for giving me an opportunity to write a few words in memory of a great statesman of our time, with whom I did politics for over a decade and served in Parliament with him for a period of seven years, a rare opportunity any other politician living today could feel proud of.

The writer is the President of the Tamil United Liberation Front.