During the step-by-step approach towards Dominion status, Sinhalese and Tamil leaders managed ethnic tensions reasonably well. During the progress towards independence, Ceylon’s political scenario swung from federalism (1926) to Regional Councils (1957), all of which resulted in missed opportunities for Tamil leaders in the 1930s.
After independence, ethnicity and language became political tools in the hands of the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and all Tamil parties, and despite the conceived amity among leaders of all communities and as to who was responsible, what went wrong in the field of ethnic and language relations after independence has been the subject of many studies undertaken by several historians and authors.
Activities of politicians, political parties, and the people of all races showcased missed opportunities due to the mismanagement of the multicultural, multireligious, and multiethnic existence of the Ceylonese nation.
The process of degeneration commenced when electioneering commenced at full speed to face the first General Election in August and September 1947. It was difficult at the outset to expect parties to be formed with distinctive policies and loyalties cutting across racial and sectional divisions, but it could have been managed if ethnic divisions had not been created to gain political power.
The UNP
D.S. Senanayake began forming the UNP in preparation to face elections as not only was his political future in the balance but that of the country as well. If he was defeated in the ensuing election before independence under the Soulbury Constitution, the consequences would have been unpredictable with disruptive elements at the gate.
The UNP was formed on 6 September 1946, proposed by S. Natesan (the Member of the State Council for Kankesanthurai) and seconded by T.B. Jayah (an appointed Member of the State Council). D.S. Senanayake was proposed as the Leader by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and seconded by George E. de Silva.
Three Right-wing pro-Dominion parties – the most prominent of which was the Sinhala Maha Sabha (formed in 1936) led by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the Lanka National Congress, and a few Muslim leaders joined to form the UNP. The UNP, though drawing support from all communities, was a predominantly Sinhalese-oriented party.
DS’s credentials to become the UNP Leader were unchallenged. He was a sportsman and a high school dropout born into a rich philanthropist family, owning the Kahatagaha Mine, arrack renting, and plantations. The three brothers DC, FR, and DS grew into the independence movement following the Sinhalese-Muslim riots of 1915 and were jailed for 46 days without charge.
At first, DS was elected unopposed in 1924 to the Legislative Council from Negombo and Secretary of the council’s unofficial members’ group, and won at all State Council Elections from 1931 onwards representing the Ceylon National Congress (CNC). He was appointed Minister of Lands and Agriculture in 1931 and held that office for 15 years in addition to being appointed the Leader of the House in 1942.
The first election under the new Soulbury Constitution was held from 23 August to 20 September 1947. It was also the first election for the newly-formed UNP. Initially, there was a swing against the UNP like in Britain in 1945. But during the month-long election to the 95-seat Parliament there was a swing back to the UNP.
The opposition to the UNP was led by Communist-oriented parties like the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Communist Party of Ceylon (CP). They claimed that the so-called independence was bogus and that colonialism was being perpetuated under a new form.
The UNP emerged victorious with 42 seats (39.8% or 751,432 votes). However, the party was seven seats short of a working majority, mainly due to an unexpected number of 21 independents being elected with 29% or 549,381 votes.
As a result, the UNP had to form a Coalition Government, with the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) led by G.G. Ponnambalam joining the Government along with anti-Communist independents and appointed Members of Parliament (MPs). The first Cabinet consisted of 11 UNPers, two independents (both Tamils), and one from the Labour Party.
Despite the emergence of the Left, they were no match to UNP leaders. D.S. Senanayake (26,762 votes) was contested for the first time and beat Edmund Samarakkody (Bolshevik-Leninist Party, 10,673 votes) by a handsome margin of 16,089 votes in the Mirigama electorate.
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (UNP, 31,463 votes) beat Chandra Gunasekera (LSSP, 4,609 votes) in Attanagalla by a huge margin of 26,854 votes. The next in line for the UNP leadership, Sir John Kotelawala won by 15,285 votes and Dudley Senanayake won by 16,862 – both large majorities at the time.
Between the three leaders, Bandaranaike had the largest majority. In fact, the two UNP leaders (DS and SWRD) together polled 58,822 votes while the opposition Left-oriented parties together polled only 15,282 votes. Kotelawala and Dudley Senanayake together polled 32,147, with the opposition to them polling a mere 5,571 votes.
In the immediate aftermath of independence, the UNP led by DS, while remaining dependent on Britain for trade and defence, boldly continued with vigour its Leader’s agrarian policies in the neglected North Central Province (NCP), with the assistance of a young civil servant C.P. de Silva who had returned to Ceylon with a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics from the University of London.
DS foresaw the rapid expansion of population and food shortages after the Second World War and made plans to spread the population across the vast neglected agricultural lands in the NCP, launching a scheme to relocate 250,000 people in fertile lands in Gal Oya with the enthusiastic support of C.P. de Silva. He also took a keen interest in the expansion of hydroelectric power.
As the first Minister of External Affairs and Defence, DS introduced the Army Act (1949), Navy Act (1950), and Air Force Act (1951), thereby establishing the armed forces in Ceylon. A defence agreement enabled the UK to retain British bases in Ceylon while giving assistance to train and arm our new military.
Despite giving leadership to the independence movement and progressive agricultural policies in the early years of the UNP Government, DS faced harsh criticism from Left-oriented parties in relation to the policy of relocating people in the NCP with a huge investment in opening up the neglected irrigation systems of old Ceylon.
Before long, DS courted disaster when he appeared to groom his son Dudley (the Minister of Agriculture and Lands) to take over the leadership when the ‘heir apparent,’ the erudite Bandaranaike, was senior to Dudley. Conflict had arisen with Bandaranaike as a result of his hardline nationalist policies. Kotelawala (DS’s nephew) was more senior and a charismatic figure, but did not have the mystique attached to DS.
On 21 March 1952, DS took his customary breakfast ride on the Police horse ‘Chitra,’ on his usual route from Temple Trees to Galle Face accompanied by Sir Richard Aluwihare (Inspector General of Police), G.G. Ponnambalam (Cabinet Minister) and Inspector Eddie Grey. The horse broke into a gallop from the usual canter when suddenly, the Prime Minister fell off the saddle.
The best of medical attention from here and abroad could not revive the Prime Minister. He died on 22 March 1952.
The most-favoured candidate for the premiership in the absence of SWRD, who had by then resigned, was Dudley Senanayake. Dudley, was a humanist who continued his father’s agricultural policies and had by then endeared himself to the downtrodden and the party. He was appointed Prime Minister by Lord Soulbury on 26 March 1952.
The SLFP
Bandaranaike, with the Sinhala Maha Sabha (formed in 1936 to promote Sinhalese culture and community interest), joined DS to form the UNP. He contested the first election under the new Soulbury Constitution in 1947, but resigned from the UNP and Cabinet and crossed the floor on 12 July 1951 – one year before the next General Election scheduled for May 1952.
Those who followed Bandaranaike were A.P. Jayasuriya, Jayaweera Kuruppu (Balangoda), George R. de Silva (Colombo North, Junior Minister of Justice), D.A. Rajapaksa (Beliatta), D.S. Goonasekera (Udugama), H. Sri Nissanka (Kurunegala), and Barnes Ratwatte from the Senate.
Bandaranaike, in a stirring speech in Parliament, stated: “When I assisted originally in the formation of the UNP and persuaded the Sinhala Maha Sabha to join it, and when I myself agreed to serve the present Government, I did so in order to ensure the stability of government which was needed particularly at the beginning of the new era of freedom.
“We obtained our freedom in circumstances that were more advantageous than those in which every other country of Southeast Asia obtained theirs. We were free from internal difficulties and our coffers were overflowing. It was a golden opportunity to solve many of our serious problems that faced our free land – social, cultural, and economic. This opportunity, in my opinion, was thrown away and as time went on, it will become increasingly difficult to solve these problems.
“I was hoping against hope for a long time that it might be possible to reconcile my point of view with that of certain other members of the Government honourably and in the best interest of the country. I regret to state that I have now come to the conclusion that these divergent points of view cannot be honourably reconciled.”
Two months later, on 2 September 1951, the SLFP was formed. Sri Nissanka proposed the name of the party. Bernard Aluwihare, Badi-ud-din Mahmud, and S. Nagaraj were appointed as Joint Secretaries and George R. de Silva the Treasurer. Six months later, Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake fell off a horse and died on 22 March 1952.
Bandaranaike was also born into a philanthropic and aristocratic family. He was no sportsman; learnt at Oxford; and was intellectually comparable to Jawaharlal Nehru (India), Liaquat Ali Khan (Pakistan), and President Manuel Roxas (the Philippines).
1952 General Elections
DS and SWRD had a common aim in politics – to obtain independence from Britain without bloodshed. However, it was clear that they had two different political philosophies. Whereas Senanayake had a pro-establishment political vision, SWRD had the vision of shifting power from the overprivileged elite to the underprivileged hoi polloi.
The first election the SLFP faced was in May 1952, following the unexpected death of DS on 22 March 1952, while the whole nation was in grief. Dudley Senanayake, the newly-appointed Prime Minister and Leader of the UNP, due to his sincerity and genuine disposition, and being a true democrat, dissolved Parliament in order to obtain a fresh mandate for his premiership.
At the ensuing election, the UNP increased its number of parliamentary seats from 42 (1947) to 54 (44% or 1,026,005 votes) while the newly-formed SLFP won only nine seats (15% or 361,250 votes), way behind the UNP.
The result was more a tribute to D.S. Senanayake. But what was evident was the potential the newly-formed SLFP displayed as an alternative to the UNP and the traditional Left.
The UNP and the LSSP increased their voter base by about 5% and 3%, respectively. The Ceylon Indian Congress which represented the Indian plantation workers, was eliminated from Parliament after the plantation workers were disenfranchised by the UNP Government. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), which split from the ACTC over joining the UNP Government, won two seats and the ACTC won four seats, while the LSSP won nine seats (one less than 1947) and independents 12 seats.
The 1952 General Elections also saw party symbols emerging in the election system, although party candidates were given the freedom to use any symbol. For example, in the Polonnaruwa District, the SLFP candidate C.P. de Silva won under the elephant symbol; in Dodangaslanda, the UNP candidate Sir John Kotelawala won under the hand symbol; in Attanagalla, SLFP Leader Bandaranaike won under the elephant symbol; and in Dedigama, UNP Leader Dudley Senanayake won under the elephant symbol. It was quite clear that the people voted for their leaders; the party or its symbol was unimportant in 1952.
Between 1947 and 1952, the leaders of the two main parties, the UNP and SLFP, continued to retain their respect with the electorate despite the rhetoric of the Left parties. Dudley Senanayake (Dedigama) polled 21,206 compared to a total of 6,783 by two opposing candidates; Kotelawala (Dodangaslanda) polled 21,934 compared to a total of 6,466 by one opposing candidate; and Bandaranaike (Attanagalla) polled 38,478 compared to 5,934 by one opposing candidate. The highest majority was obtained by Bandaranaike.
By 1952, the economy rebounded due to the Korean War helping to increase the budget surplus and expand welfare schemes. Soon after the war ended, an unprecedented rise in foreign assets (Rs. 1,209 million) began to decrease by an alarming rate of Rs. 30 million per month. Finance Minister J.R. Jayewardene announced a substantial cut to the rice ration and halved the food subsidy vote in the 1952/53 Budget, to curtail expenditure and balance the budget.
A Hartal was launched on 12 August 1953, led by the LSSP against the price hikes on rice and postal and railway fares, and the invincibility of the UNP was severely tested. Thirteen people were killed by Police fire with two from the Attanagalla electorate.
The widespread Hartal caused Dudley to resign while blaming JR for his downfall. Whether JR was rash or sincere is unclear. However, the new power struggle in the UNP between JR and Kotelawala in the absence of Dudley, resulted in Kotelawala becoming the new UNP leader.
The UNP was by now confronted with the cultural revival which had begun in the 19th century with universal adult franchise, democratic institutions, and traditions in place, and literacy on the rise. There appeared a split between neo-traditionalists (aimed at restoring pre-colonial monastic privileges by separating the clergy from the laity) and reformists (who sought to make all clergymen more active in the social, political, and cultural life of the people).
Despite Kotelawala felicitating the formation of the Lanka Bauddha Mandalaya, appointing the Buddhist Commission, and readily agreeing with the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) in 1953 to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha’s Parinirvana in Anuradhapura, the critical assessments of the Buddhist Commission’s report against the status quo had a decisive impact on the petty rural bourgeois intelligences to rally against the UNP.
Several writers, referring to the sweeping Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP)/SLFP victory, referred to elitist classes being outmanoeuvred by the petty bourgeoisie or the growing middle class (who drifted to the UNP and SLFP from time to time) and the peasantry (the increasing poor frustrated by the elitist UNP).
1956 General Elections
Critics effectively highlighted the Government’s insensitivity to cultural grievances. The UNP was dealt a major blow when Dudley read the cultural forces at play and withdrew his support for the party by 1956. Kotelawala failed to read the mood of the people and was detached from the world around him.
Bandaranaike began a grassroot-based movement targeting the 1956 General Elections with nine MPs, merging the Sinhala Maha Sabha formed in 1936 with the SLFP and forming a political organisation called the MEP with the Sinhala Bhasha Peramuna, Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party, and a few independents.
The MEP fielded 60 candidates and 51 MPs were elected, giving it a two-thirds majority. Bandaranaike gained 42 seats with 39.52% of the total votes polled whereas the UNP was reduced to eight seats (27.91%), losing 46 seats. The LSSP won 14 seats (10.36%), ITAK (Federal Party) 10 seats (5.39%), Communist Party three seats (4.52%), ACTC just one seat (0.34%), and independents eight seats (11.96%). It appeared that the 22 and 12 independents who had won the previous two elections, respectively, had joined the SLFP.
The SLFP controlled 45 out of the 51 MEP MPs in the new Parliament and its Leader won his electorate with a historic majority of 41,997 votes compared to 3,019 polled by the UNP, showing the mood of the people at the time.
Writing in a national newspaper, Uditha Devapriya stated: “The SLFP’s victory was the product of circumstances that favoured any party that incorporated the people’s pulse” (19 September 2021). The 1956 General Elections marked the first time a prominent political party among the former colonies was swept away by a grassroot movement led by cultural, social, and economic forces.
The victorious Bandaranaike made a radical shift in the country’s foreign policy by opening diplomatic channels with China, the Soviet Union, and the Eastern Bloc, and in the country’s economy by introducing the Paddy Lands Bill, Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), and socialist reforms with a nationalisation policy.
The Official Language Act of 1956
However, the most far-reaching and controversial move made by Bandaranaike was the passing of the Official Language Act on 5 June 1956 by a vote of 56 to 29. As a result, the 1956 General Election led to deep polarisation between the Sinhala and Tamil communities.
While Bandaranaike swept the polls in the south, the Federal Party swept the north with six out of nine seats, and four out of the seven in the east. As expected, the Tamil population complained of discrimination in employment, receipt of Government communication in Sinhala only, and accused the ‘Sinhala’ Government of treating Tamils as aliens in their own country, unable to safeguard their own culture.
The Government responded to Tamil grievances by passing the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act in 1958. The act provided for the use of Tamil as a medium of instruction, a medium of examination for public service, and for special administration in the north and east.
Tamil politicians stated that this act hardly satisfied Tamil aspirations, in that it did not recognise Tamil as a national language. Admittedly, the Government for its part, did not implement the provisions of this act until 1966 and focused on the ‘Sinhala-only’ policy. The ‘Sinhala-only’ legislation, enacted on a wave of Sinhalese nationalism, also had overtones of economic confrontations. Consequential non-violent protests organised by Tamil leaders were met with anti-Tamil violence.
While no Tamil leader of substance fought for a federal constitution before independence, Bandaranaike was the first to advocate federalism in Ceylon, way back in 1926. Muted opposition to federalism came from the Tamil Congress after political parties were formed.
Regional autonomy after independence may have been achieved under Bandaranaike’s premiership at the height of Sinhalese nationalism with reasonable guarantees for the Tamils if not for his untimely death at the hands of an assassin. Even after 75 years of independence, Sri Lanka has no functional Regional or Provincial Councils.
Federalism did not create a communal backlash at the time. On the contrary, educationists and scholars like James T. Rutnam wrote several articles to the Ceylon Morning Leader calling for a unitary constitution, saying it would cause disunity amongst communities.
In fact, during a well-attended seminar in Jaffna on 26 July 1926 presided over by Dr. Issac Thambyah, SWRD was opposed and subjected to a barrage of questions challenging federalism (D.B.S. Jeyaraj, 9 February 2019). During Bandaranaike’s spirited advocacy on behalf of federalism, he stated: “Regional autonomy was the ideal way to manage communal differences. A thousand and one objections can be raised against the system. But when the objections are dissipated, I am convinced that some form of federal government will be the only solution.”
However, by 1936, Bandaranaike, by then the Minister of Local Government, had moved away from Federalism but continued to encourage decentralisation by revamping the Local Government system and providing greater autonomy to the provinces.
R.S.S. Gunewardene successfully proposed a motion setting up Provincial Councils in the State Council in 1940. But for some inexplicable reason, SWRD did not proceed to present a bill in the State Council as the subject Minister. It is said that his ministerial colleagues opposed his move to give power to Regional Councils.
When Lord Soulbury was appointed in July 1944 to draft a new Constitution for Ceylon, ACTC Leader Ponnambalam propounded the policy for 50-50 representation or half the seats for the minority community having only 30% of the population. This was rejected by the Soulbury Commission.
When Ponnambalam opted to join the DS Cabinet in 1947 to shore up the UNP Government with a mere seven-seat majority, he voted with the Government to pass the Citizenship Act and the Parliamentary Elections Act in 1949, resulting in his deputies rebelling against him calling him a traitor.
The ITAK (Federal Party)
Ponnambalam’s deputies S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, C. Vanniasingam, E.M.V. Naganathan, and V.N. Navaratnam formed a new party named the ITAK (better known as the Federal Party), and it turned out to be a watershed in Ceylon and Tamil politics. The new party called for the formation of an autonomous state comprising the north and east within a united Ceylon.
It was the first political party to argue for a federal constitution as its main ideology and aim after independence to protect Tamil interests, while SWRD was emphasising regional autonomy all the time.
Citizenship Act and Parliamentary Elections Act
The ITAK used the disenfranchisement of Indian Tamil plantation workers with the Citizenship Act of 1948 and Parliamentary Elections Act of 1949 in order to create a niche for itself amongst the Tamil community. What these acts did was to reduce the minority representation in Parliament to less than 20% by alienating Indian Tamil plantation workers (a mere 10% of the population) who had seven seats and influence in 20 other constituencies which had a significant number of Indian Tamil persons in plantations.
What was surprising was that all of the Tamil elite, including the other Tamil leaders who formed the ACTC, either voted for the two bills or were not serious about opposing them. Ponnambalam opposed the first bill but voted for the second. The Sinhalese elite discovered very early that they could easily call the bluff of the Colombo Tamil elite in particular and other Tamil elite. (UTHR[J], 21 April 2024)
It must be stated that during the era of the State Council in the 1930s, Dr. N.M. Perera opposed the influx of Indian labour whereas DS argued for it as being beneficial to the plantation economy.
During the debate, Bandaranaike (the Home Minister), while supporting the legislation, stated that the Government should practise patience and understanding, and consult the Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamils of the north to work out a solution before rushing into legislation. He further said that the Government should study how many could be absorbed since Indian Prime Minister Nehru had shown considerable understanding of Ceylon’s plight.
It was probably wrong to allege that DS was anti-Tamil and wanted to hatch a masterplan to bring about Sinhalese domination in Parliament or to colonise Tamil areas with Sinhalese. For instance, when the Gala Oya scheme was completed, DS had wanted to distribute land for the people of the area. When he found there were not enough Tamils to take up land settlements, he waited for six months and invited people from other provinces.
What really motivated DS, in whose cabinet SWRD Bandaranaike featured prominently, was his alarm over Left parties in Parliament promoting the working class having about 20 seats whereas the UNP had won only 41 seats in a Parliament of 95 in 1947. The UNP was short of seven seats for a simple majority. DS was concerned of a distinct possibility that a coalition government of the Left, led by the LSSP, would strenuously oppose the bill.
DS was proven correct, for after the passage of the bills, the UNP won 54 seats in 1952 and ruled without having to contend with a strong opposition from the Left. (Kumari Jayawardena, Sri Lanka Guardian, June/July 1984; A.J. Wilson, ‘Electoral Politics in an Emergent State,’ Cambridge University Press, 1975)
(Part I of this article was published in The Sunday Morning last week and can be seen at https://www.themorning.lk/articles/KdfpBTTRcHkw3krLJwf9. Part III will be published next week)
(The writer is an Attorney-at-Law)