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SLFP REJUVENATED AS A PEOPLE'S PARTY ENDING THE ANTI-NATIONAL HIJACKING

A.A.M.NIZAM MATARA

Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the indigenous party of the Sri Lankans, formed by the patriots of all the three major communities of Sri Lanka to liberate the oppressed Sri Lankan masses, particularly the rural masses from the suppression of the elitist, anglophile urbanites has taken a great leap forward with the appointment of the most deserving and qualified person in Sri Lanka as its new leader.

The appointment of His Excellency President Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse as its leader ends the hijack of the party by anti-national pro-alien elements that started with the attempt to grab its leadership by the Janawegaya gang led by Kumar Rupasinge in the early 70s. While Bandaranaike children and sons-in-law, despite their bogus claim of inheriting the Party, left it and vigorously laboured for its destruction, it was President Mahinda Rajapakse, who was even christened by the masses as the political child of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, energetically worked hard to strengthen the party base, save it from conspiracies and resuscitate it from the political pitfalls.

It is pertinent to look back on the brief history of the party, the cause it stood for, the people that nourished it, its services to the masses, and conspiracies and political skullduggery it faced to understand the real significance of this transition of power.

When there was no real transition of power to the masses from the post- independent Kalu Suddha rulers, the birth of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party took place following convergence of patriotic politicians belonging to all communities. The Party was formed at a large gathering of over 10,000 from all communities, including Buddhist monks attended at the Colombo Town Hall premises on 2nd September 1951. The formation of the new party as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was proposed by the late Sri H. Nissanka and was seconded by the late Dr. Badi-ud-din Mahmoud.

Late Prime Minister Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike was unanimously elected as the Party’s first President and three persons one Sinhala, one Muslim and one Tamil – Bernard Alivihare, Badi-ud-din Mahmoud and S.Thangarajah were elected as its Joint Secretaries. From the very inception, the party demonstrated that it was a truly indigenous party of Sri Lankans embracing all communities, a party for the people from all walks of life and a one striving for the emancipation of the oppressed masses from the clutches of the urbanite, anglophile, and elitist minority undeservedly holding the reigns of power.

The Party did not borrow its ideologies from abroad as was the case with the UNP and the Left Parties. It had to face its first election in 1952 within one year of its formation. Although it was not properly and widely organized and established during that short span of time it contested 48 seats in the 1952 election and was capable of winning 9 seats. It was polled 361,250 votes representing 15.4% votes polled at that election.

1956 was the real turning point in the Sri Lankan political history.
Inspired by the indigenous policies of the new Party and expressing trust in its leadership, the economically backward, socially outcast, politically deprived majority of impoverished, rural peasantry, the working class, the vernacular teachers, Buddhist monks, and the indigenous physicians, the Pancha Maha Balavegaya (the five great
forces) rallied round the new party making it victorious in the 1956 election and thus launched the people’s revolution of 1956.

In this great victory, Kalu Suddhas, the wealthy business tycoons, and the planters who dominated the Parliament was replaced by Members elected from the ordinary masses comprising teachers, clerks, minor employees, farmers, poets, ordinary villagers and so on providing a true democratic representation. Even an ordinary poet who used to sell poetic literature at public places was able to get elevated to a Deputy Minister portfolio.

The new government took wide ranging steps for political and economical liberation of Sri Lanka. Air and Naval bases that continued to be under British occupation despite the so-called independence were liberated by sending the British troops back. A Cultural Ministry was established to promote the indigenous cultural heritage. With the nationalization of bus services, nationalization was introduced as a means to prevent undue exploitation of workers, and induce the workers to get involved in the management of their own workplaces.

Small and medium sized industries using local raw materials were established encouraging the sprout of local industrialists. The British tailored foreign policy was changed and instead a pro Afro-Asian, pro Socialist bloc foreign policy was evolved. This policy was brilliantly and daringly expounded during the time of Suez crisis in 1958. Without becoming a paw of the Western Imperialist aggressors, Mr. Bandaranaike daringly supported the aggrieved Egyptians.

The setback suffered by the Party following the cruel assassination of Mr. Bandaraniake was revived when Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike ventured to give leadership to the Party on the eve of the 1960 July Election.

Upon becoming the first woman Prime Minister in the world, the iron willed Mrs. Bandaranaike took bold and daring steps to strengthen the party and fortify the status of the impoverished masses and the rural economy. Braving the threats of western nations she nationalized the oil companies and the missionary schools.

To strengthen the rural masses economically, and to solve the grave unemployment problem of the rural youth, and to make use of the natural resources State-sector industries were established in the fields of Steel, Tyre, Leather, Plywood, Fertilizer, Sugar and Textiles. University education that was a luxury of the elite society was made available to the rural children by establishing more Universities.

In her second term of office in 1970, food production was given prime importance. Election of Mr. Alfred Duraiappah as the SLFP Mayor of Jaffna was a monument to the success and people’s acceptance of her Food production drive. It was during this period that reactionary forces floated moves to destruct the Party using Bandarnaike siblings and the Bandaranaike in-Laws. This reactionary move was initiated by the international conspirator Kumar Rupasinghe who formed a group called “Janawegaya Group” and worked against Party’s Vice President Mr. Maithripala Senanayake and National Organisor Mr. Anura Bandaranaike. This split the party into two camps at every level and caused colossal damage even to the government activities. Having achieved his “pay-masters” sinister objective, Kumar Rupasinghe vanished into thin air leaving the party in disarray.

After the triumph of the reactionary forces in the 1977 election, the UNP government took repressive measures to destroy opposition political parties and the SLFP became the major victim in this exercise. On flimsy grounds it disenfranchised Mrs. Bandaraniake and several other SLFPers, and fomented divisions in the Party aggravating the row between the Bandaranaike siblings Anura and Chandrika.

Vijaya Kumaratunge with his political ambitions attempted to get Chandrika nominated to the Attanagalle seat that fell vacant. However, this move was opposed by many senior members of the party who wanted Anura appointed instead. Although this row was temporarily solved by appointing Mr. Lakshman Jayakody to represent the vacant Attanagalle seat, the political skullduggery continued and ended with the expulsion of 13 Central Committee members including Mr.
Maithripala Senanayake, and Mr. Anura Bandaranaike.

This move split the Party into two factions as SLFP(S) and SLFP(M), SLFP-Sirima and SLFP-Maithripala groups. After many years of wrangling the two factions re-united in 1982. The unity didn’t last long. In 1983 Vijaya Kumaratunge, Chandrika, T.B.Illangaratne, and several others left the party and in July 1984 these dissidents formed a new political party, the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and assiduously worked to destroy the SLFP. Chandrika who was in self-exile following the assassination of Vijaya Kumaratunge, returned to Sri Lanka in 1990 and formed her own Party, the Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna (BNP). During this period Anura left the party with several others and joined the UNP and Chandrika subsequently re-joined the SLFP in 1993.

Regardless of these turmoil Mrs. Bandaranaike gave leadership to all patriotic protests against threat to nations’s sovereignty. Mr. Rajapakse was the great force behind her and it was the popular agitations such as Jana Gosha, Pada Yathra initiated and launched by Mr. Rajapakse helped to hold the SLFP membership intact and tied to the party organizations. His relentless work for exposing human rights violations under the period of State Terror (Beeshana Yugaya) also earned credibility to the SLFP.

Although former President Chandrika as the leader of the SLFP departed from implementing its indigenous policies and found solace in the alien free market and liberal policies, “Mahinda Chintana” programme is a complete revitalization of the SLFP policies. President Mahinda Rajapakse having being elected as the leader of the SLFP will become a great boost for the upliftment of the rural economy and the living standards of the much neglected rural population.

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