Ninth death anniversary of Sirimavo Bandaranaike :

Memories of a great woman politician

Janaka PERERA

Today marks the ninth death anniversary of Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike - thrice Prime Minister and twice Opposition Leader. This article is not so much about her illustrious political career but based on a senior police officer’s experiences since the time her husband S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike won the General Election of 1956.

Former Senior DIG Crimes (Colombo) and later Interpol Drugs Expert Ramachandra Sunderalingam was ASP Ratnapura covering Balangoda and surrounding areas when the MEP under S.W.R.D. won the landslide victory. Unlike today, the gazzetted police officer in charge of a district then was responsible for all security arrangements for VIPs even though a permanent security officer accompanied the VIP.

An unforgettable event at the time, according to Sunderalingam, was the funeral in 1957 of Barnes Ratwatte - father of Mrs. Bandaranaike. Never had the police or anyone else had witnessed such a large crowd for a funeral in Balangoda. All the MPs of the new Government had turned up in full strength for the funeral. It had led a Minister to remark that Parliament could have been convened at Balangoda! And ASP Sunderalingam was at the beck and call of the Prime Minister who was personally making all funeral arrangements. He had told the ASP that no vehicles should follow the cortege. On the PM’s instructions, Sunderalingam on a priority call from the Balangoda Police station requested the Secretary to Governor General Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to see that the GG came in full ceremonial dress for the funeral. Sir Oliver did come in full dress and it gave the impression of a State Funeral.

Sunderalingam says:

“During a regular briefing by the Prime Minister, I observed that Mrs. Bandaranaike and their three children Sunethra, Chandrika and Anura all in traditional dress were mere spectators. This arrangement by Premier S.W.R.D. was the best he could have done for his wife who later made history as the world’s first woman Prime Minister.”

When S.W.R.D. was assassinated in September 1959, (to quote Veteran Journalist late D.B. Dhanapala) “the brown sahibs driven into the wilderness by the Party of Bandaranaike...thought that...his ideas and ideals were forever scotched but they were counting without the common people of the country and the uncommon widow of this uncommon man.” (Among those present)

Sunderalingam was ASP Ambalangoda in 1961 when Mrs. Bandaranaike was already in power having formed her first Government. As officer in charge of her security when she visited Meetiyagoda that year to lay the foundation for a public school, he observed:

“There was a big enthusiasm among all the people to see at close range for the first time in their lives a woman Prime Minister. There were more women in the crowd than men”

In 1966 Sunderalingam was posted to Jaffna as SP North and remained there until December 1972. In his view this six year period “was the Golden Era of communal harmony and a very significant period in the history of the Northern Peninsula and recorded the largest number of Cabinet Ministers visiting the province to attend functions and launch development projects.”

Sunderalingam attributes the detention of JVP Leader Rohana Wijeweera in the Jaffna Prison (Dutch Fort) shortly before the outbreak of the April 1971 insurgency, to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s “excellent strategy” as JVP members in the South would lose any contact with their leader imprisoned in the North. Despite this 200 insurgents had made an unsuccessful attempt (foiled by the police) to rescue their leader by raiding the prison on April 5, 1971. At a meeting held in the latter part of that year SP Sunderalingam had the occasion to brief the PM at a meeting she had convened at Temple Trees on the prison attack and the death of a JVP supporter in the Navy in a shoot out at Elephant Pass. This police operation conducted by ASP Chandra Mendis (later DIG) had impressed the Premier very much. Those days the military was largely in the background.

In January 1973, Sunderalingam was transferred to Colombo as SP Crimes on his return from overseas UN/Interpol training in narcotics. This was the year I came to know him personally as crime reporter for the Observer, Lake House. With the backing of then DIG T.B. Werapitiya, SP Sunderalingam was able to set up the Colombo Crime Detective Bureau (CDB) on the lines of the London Metropolitan Police. The PM came for the inauguration ceremony at Gregory’s Road, Colombo 7, where SP (Crimes) delivered the inaugural address. The CDB had a rogues’ gallery (which had photos and fingerprints of all categories of criminals) and a Servant Registry system where all Colombo residents could have their domestics registered, finger printed and photographed. Impressed by this set up the PM had humorously remarked that she should send her domestics from Mahawalatenne for registration. I was a regular visitor to the CDB under Sunderalingam when doing the ‘police beat’ for the press.

Former CID Director Tyrell Goonetilleke succeeded Sundaralingam as CDB Chief. During Goonetilleke’s term occurred a politically sensitive incident that showed Mrs. Bandaranaike’s magnanimity. It was the arrest and remanding in 1976 of late Lalith Athulathmudali in connection with an acid throwing case where a top mercantile executive was the victim. Charges were about to be framed against Athulathmudali who was then a UNP lawyer just entered the political arena. But investigating the case, Sunderalingam and his team found no evidence to connect the suspect with the criminal offence. When the matter was brought to the PM’s notice she in Sunderalingam’s presence called Attorney General Siva Pasupathy and told him to drop the case if their was no positive evidence. Athulathmudali was promptly released but he bore no grudge against Tyrell Goonetilleke who ordered his arrest.

During the Non-Aligned Conference of 1976, the PM convened a top level security conference where she expressed her readiness to vacate Temple Trees and move to Rosemead Place to allocate the official residence for the exclusive use of the then Indian PM Indira Gandhi reflecting the close friendship between the two Prime Ministers. Within a year, Kachchativu was given to Sri Lanka on a platter.

On the strained relations that began between the two countries after J.R. Jayewardene came to power in 1977, Sunderalingam observes.

“My personal opinion is that JRJ’s harassment of Mrs. Bandaranaike by depriving her of civil rights is the primary cause of Premier Indira Gandhi allowing Tamil militant groups to destabilize Sri Lanka after being trained in Tamil Nadu. Had JR been considerate towards Mrs. Bandaranaike the Indian PM would not have taken such a hard-line in backing the militant groups as revealed by Indian Intelligence agencies.”

This attitude of President Jayewardene was in marked contrast to that of Mrs. Bandaranaike when she intervened to prevent JR being accused over a bloody clash that occurred between two UNP factions in 1976, although some top SLFP members were determined to pin him down, according to Sunderalingam who investigated the case. He says that it would have been a reversed situation had JR been the PM in 1976.

The most important piece of investigation which Sunderalingam made during Mrs. Bandaranaike’s second term as Prime Minister was on the birth of the Tamil militancy in the North. But his warning to the Government at the time went unheeded although he was able to convince the PM that the assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah was the work ‘not’ of his political rivals in the ruling party but of Velupillai Prabhakaran and his gang.

Sunderalingam’s warning is also noted by former Army Commander and Defence Secretary General Cyril Ranatunga in his memoirs From Peace to War, Insurgency to Terrorism.

Concludes Sunderalingam: “The JVP insurgency of 1971 and the detention of Rohana Wijeweera in the Jaffna Prison left a big impression on young Tamils. Their popular slogan in 1971 was ‘if Sinhala youth revolt against their own Government what are we doing’?”