SLFP’s contribution to the Lankan political landscape

Dr. Jayatissa de Costa

THE ORIGIN: The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was formed on July 21, 1951 as a breakaway group of the United National Party (UNP) which was ruling the country at the time.

The dissident group included S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, C.P. de Silva, D.A. Rajapaksa and D.S. Gunasekere. At the inaugural meeting of the new party which was held at the Colombo Town Hall S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was appointed the President while Bernard Aluvihare and K.C. Thangaraja became the General Secretary and Treasurer respectively.

Within one year of its formation, the SLFP had to face a general election following which nine of their members were returned and Bandaranaike became the Leader of the Opposition, the position held by Dr. N.M. Perera in the previous Parliament.

Ever since the 1952 General Election, the first contested by it, the SLFP by itself or SLFP led coalitions have

 either ruled the country or functioned as the main Opposition.

To that extent, it is one of the two major parties in Sri Lanka and since its formation, the SLFP has ruled the country more than any political party in Sri Lankan history.

At present too where the country is in a crucial position owing to the problem in the North and the East, the SLFP’s role has been significant in that the Government has today succeeded in flushing terrorism out of the Eastern province.

Thus the present SLFP leader President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in the process of achieving stability by winning the war against terrorism. This is the biggest achievement by any Sri Lankan leader after the early 80s when the LTTE commenced its terrorist activities. Even the Indian Army could not completely eradicate them militarily. Accordingly, the SLFP’s contribution to eliminate terrorism is a great achievement by any standard.

An important factor one has to bear in mind in this regard is that these victories were achieved in the midst of a host of other problems including the rising cost of living directly linked to the mounting crude oil prices in the international market.

Yet, even on the economic side, it must be noted that under the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa who heads the SLFP, Sri Lanka has continued to increase its domestic production.

Of course there are drawbacks which are directly linked to the terrorist problem like the drop in the number of tourist arrivals. But, such drawbacks are inevitable in any country faced with the menace of terrorism.

Social Revolution

During the regime of the first SLFP Government led by Prime Minister Bandaranaike, a large number of changes took place like the common man being given his rightful position.

Those were the days where there was a ruling elitist class in the country while the vast majority of the population consisted of poor, down-trodden masses.

The division was clearly felt; the English-speaking elitists who controlled the economy on the one hand and the ‘have-nots’ on the other.

The former were educated and rich, and ruled the country socially, politically and in every other sphere. When one compared the urban and the rural sectors, it was the urban elitists who ruled the country as opposed to the rural folk who formed the majority. There were no divisions on communal lines.

It was Premier Bandaranaike who brought about a change in this situation which is now called the ‘1956 social revolution’. One must remember that it was the ‘Pancha Maha Balawegaya’ consisting of Buddhist monks, ayurvedic doctors, teachers, farmers and labourers that brought his Government to power. Incidentally, when the first SLFP Government was sworn in, all its members were clad in the national attire.

From olden times the ancient centres of learning in this country were the pirivenas. Bandaranaike converted two of the prime pirivenas, Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara, into universities which are known today as the Universities of Sri Jayawardenepura and Kelaniya.

I still remember how certain elitist members of the Senate, notably Edmund Cooray, openly criticised the move. Their intention was to keep the monopoly over education with the English-speaking elitists and the Prime Minister’s decision was therefore a total revolution in the education sphere.

Premier Bandaranaike also introduced other changes to the existing system like the nationalisation of the port, the bus service, and the introduction of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for the benefit of the working class.

He took measures to uplift the rural communities through programmes like the Upcountry Rehabilitation Committee. The Prime Minister could have done more if not for the disruptive activities of the Marxist parties.

During his three year tenure, over 600 strikes were organised by unions affiliated to the Communist Party (CP) and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). Of course there were other leftists like Philip Gunawardene of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna who extended their support to Bandaranaike.

After the demise of Prime Minister Bandaranaike, Dudley Senanayake of the United National Party (UNP) came to power for a short period. But, within a couple of months Mrs. Bandaranaike formed a pure SLFP Government by winning 75 out of the 151 seats in the legislature.

But, during the latter part of her tenure, she invited the LSSP to become a partner of the Government which ended up in a disastrous manner. It resulted in a break within the SLFP in that the second-in-command of the party and the Leader of the House C.P. de Silva defected to the Opposition and brought the Government down at the next election.

Interestingly, Mahanama Samaraweera, father of former Minister Mangala Samaraweera was part of the group who left the SLFP to the Opposition. After the breakaway, the UNP was able to form a coalition Government with other political parties in 1965.

Constitutional change

In 1970, with the CP and the LSSP, the SLFP-led United Front came to power again obtaining more than more than a two thirds majority. At this time, a need was felt for Sri Lanka to have an autochthonous or home-grown Constitution, and for the first time in history, Sri Lankans formulated a Constitution for themselves in 1972.

Even though belonging to the LSSP, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva did a marvellous job by drafting the Republican Constitution of 1972 in a manner suitable for the conditions in Sri Lanka.

This is evident in that some of the basic features of the 1972 Constitution have been taken in verbatim into the present 1978 Constitution despite the fact that the latter was the brainchild of President J.R. Jayawardene of the UNP whose policies were diametrically opposite to the SLFP policies.

For instance, the provisions in the Republican Constitution giving foremost position to Buddhism, those regarding the sovereignty of the people and the unitary nature of the State were preserved in the 1978 Constitution.

In the famous Indian case of Kesawananda Bharati V State of Kerala (1973 SCC 225), all 13 judges of the Indian Supreme Court unanimously held that the basic features of a constitution could not be altered even by a 100 per cent majority.

Likewise, the unitary nature and the republican nature of Sri Lanka and the sovereignty of its people are basic features that cannot be changed even with a 100 per cent majority.

The SLFP has always adhered to these basic features of the Constitution while safeguarding the inalienable rights of all the citizens of the country.

In fact, SLFP Governments failed on many occasions when they were misled by others to change there basic features.

For instance, when the Presidential Election was in the offing in 1988, the UNP Government of President Jayawardene was becoming very unpopular and everyone believed that the SLFP led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike would come to power. But, on the ill-advice of various people, the SLFP manifesto was drafted by some non-SLFPers who proposed to do away with the foremost position given to Buddhism in the Constitution.

This was the turning point of the election because all the Buddhist monks and most of the silent majority suddenly shifted their allegiance to UNP candidate Ranasinghe Premadasa who promptly announced that the existing provisions regarding Buddhism will not be changed.

The result was that the SLFP led by Mrs. Bandaranaike lost not only the presidential election, but also the subsequent general election very badly.

A similar situation arose recently owing to the recommendations of the ‘Expert Panel’ to the All Party Representative Committee which even proposed to do away with the unitary nature of the Sri Lankan State. Fortunately, this blunder was corrected before it was too late.

Therefore, the SLFP in future will have to be very cautious in formulating its policies.

The SLFP has to remember that it derives support mainly from the rural Sinhalese, though this does not mean that the SLFP does not receive minority votes. But there is hardly any doubt that the SLFP’s vote base is the rural Sinhalese folk of which the majority are Buddhists.

In the economic sphere, the biggest contribution of the SLFP has been in reducing the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

Most SLFP leaders who ruled the country succeeded to some extent in achieving this objective, provided that they did not deviate from the SLFP economic policies. They were able to increase the domestic production and improve the living conditions of the poor including their education, health etc.

It is admitted that with the introduction of the open market economy, the original economic policies of the SLFP which were applied in the 50s, 60s upto the mid 70s cannot be implemented in toto now. But the SLFP’s policy regarding the economy must always be a mixed economy which strikes a balance between the need to increase production and bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Unfortunately, all Governments which came to power after 1983 have had to face the problem of terrorism which takes a heavy toll on economic development.

But even with the existence of terrorism, President Rajapaksa’s Government has been able to achieve considerable economic growth unlike the previous SLFP regime, mainly due to the good team of advisors who assist him in economic matters.

Therefore, the present positive signs regarding the economy are indicators that Sri Lanka could expect a continuous growth rate in time to come.

Looking into the future

It is an accepted fact that the present President who heads the SLFP is a popular leader.

His victory at the Presidential Election was a personal victory to a great extent. Starting his political career as the youngest Member of Parliament, the present SLFP leader gradually rose to his present position from an ordinary back bencher, to a leading party member, a Minister, the Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister and finally to the office of Executive President. The main reason for his popularity is his ability to be with the people which is why he is called a ‘people’s leader’.

Today, the war is not fought by the politicians like earlier, but by the Security Forces. There is no political agenda in the present war and this is the reason for the present administration’s success in the war front.

However, one cannot be satisfied with the achievements in the battlefield alone. The ultimate solution to this problem will have to be a political settlement. This could be achieved by applying the SLFP policies according to which the discussion table is the best place to sort out disputes. Thus, power could be devolved even upto the grassroots level in line with the SLFP policies bearing in mind the basic features of the Constitution.

The present terrorism problem in the North and the East can be solved without much difficulty because it has its origins in the language problem. But, in Sri Lanka there are only two languages, Sinhala and Tamil, except English which is the link language.

In this respect it is helpful to look at India which has been able to withstand such problems and achieve many things with 22 major languages and 200 other languages. The SLFP should also follow the Indian example.

Under President Rajapaksa’s leadership, the Government is in the process of carefully studying the introduction of a grassroots level democratic form of governance based on the Indian Panchayat system.

This is not a concept alien to Sri Lanka. In the ancient days, disputes were settled at the Gamsabha by the village elders under the shade of a tree.

Our culture is based on the Buddhist philosophy which advocates tolerance. Therefore, as a party based on Buddhist principles, the SLFP is capable of solving this problem if it could muster the support of the minorities by giving them the right to administer their own affairs.

The future of the SLFP is inextricably linked with the future of our country. Earlier there were allegations that the SLFP is a party of the Bandaranaikes. But today for the first time, a non-Bandaranaike has been able to win the election after assuming its leadership.

Therefore, it is the duty of the present SLFP leadership to ensure that people who are eligible and hard-working are given their deserving place within the party irrespective of family background or other factors.

This will hardly be a difficult task for a truly democratic political party like the SLFP where the common, hard-working man was always able to attain his rightful place.