Unforgettable personalities: Comrade Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe

W Annesley Sumith Fernando

Election held in 1931 markedly differed from those which are conducted now. in that election the candidates competed under colours as against party symbols or preference numbers.

Dr S A Wickremasinghe, fondly called ‘Doctor Comrade’ contested the election from Morawaka electorate. The electorate covered a vast land mass extending from Morawaka to Yatiyana and Hakmana. Dr S A was a very popular figure in the Southern province.

EVD Abeygunawardena who wielded much power in the area opposed Dr S A at the election. The capitalists of the time joined hands with EVD to defeat the young and popular Dr SA. They were determined in their pursuit and left no stone unturned in plotting the downfall of Dr S A. The main reason for their antagonism against Dr S A was his deep involvement in the Sooriya Mal campaign which was floated against the Poppy Mal campaign aimed at collecting funds for military purposes.

”Dr SA is a poison; he has come forward to spread a disease in the country. If you love Dr, reject him at the election. If you love the country defeat him at the election. Then the country will be safe and Dr SA would be able to continue his practice and live peacefully.” A speaker thundered in this manner at the election rallies in Morawaka.

But the people of Morawaka expressed their love towards Dr SA by sending him to the State Council with a comfortable majority of 3421 votes.

Dr SA opposed colonialism to the hilt and dedicated himself to the policies and principles of scientific socialism. He became the only member of the opposition at the First State Council. As a lone warrior he campaigned for the welfare of the common masses. But occasionally he received active support from Susantha Fonseka (Panadura), Abeyrathna Ratnayake (Dummbara) and DD Athulathmudali (Mathugama).

Dr SA was born on April 13, 1901 in to wealthy family at the village of Athuraliya in the Matara district. He was named Sugeeswara Abeywardena Wickremasinghe.

He commenced his studies at the village school; then climbed the steps of Mahinda College, Galle and from there he proceeded to Ananda College, Colombo.

Having excelled at Ananda College he entered the Medical College. From the Medical College, he took wings to England to earn his Medical Degree. He kept abreast with his avowed intention of becoming a qualified doctor, but never deviated from his ambition of acquiring knowledge and understanding on progressive, people friendly movements and campaigns. He got himself actively involved in the activities of such movements and he had the opportunity of meeting likeminded Philip, NM and Leslie.

He became an avowed, ardent anti-colonist and he was often followed by the hunting hounds of white colonists and imperialists. The CID never failed to pay him regular visits even during his medical college days.

Dr SA came back to Sri Lanka but the CID continued with its surveillance overtly and covertly. Dr SA was looked down upon as a dangerous man and no employer wished to hire him.

He was also treated as an anathema to religion and social norms; even his relations feared to allow him enter their homes.

Amidst those adversities Dr SA managed to find a job as a doctor at the Colombo General Hospital. As per routine a doctor was expected to treat around more than 100 patients within an hour. But there were exceptions.

The patients at the paid wards in the hospital were given special treatments. Dr SA could not come to terms with those routines. The revolutionary in him did not allow him comply with the routine. He chose to do the right things; he opted to spend much time with the poor and helpless patients. Dr SA’s stance did not find favour with his superiors; before long he was expelled and became jobless. He returned to his hamlet in Matara and started his private medical practice. He also diverted his attention to politics.

Dr SA was a doctor by profession, but continued his other interests with devotion and dedication. He was an MP; a proponent of the Sooriya Mal campaign and a member of socialist society, Dr SA was a kind and compassionate doctor. He took a genuine interest in the welfare of his patients and he did not charge a fee from the patients who were poor. Soon he became the most popular doctor in the area. He was blessed with the healing touch and he was very often compared to a divine healer. Even today, elders in the villages where Dr SA served vouch for his accomplishments as a healer. They would recall how Dr SA saved the life of a poor estate worker by carrying out an urgent surgery in a poor hut. He had neither the required equipment or nor the standard solvents and spirits. All what he had, was hot water and a rubber cutting knife. He became a legend during his lifetime.

Once, Dr SA was examining his patients at his dispensary. All of a sudden there arose a big commotion. With a thundering brake a fast moving police jeep stopped in front of the dispensary. A battalion of police officers, numbering over 200, in battle gear complete with riffles, batons and helmets jumped out and surrounded the dispensary. ‘Halt; no one moves’, shouted the uniformed man in charge of the battalion. The patients were perplexed; they were eager to what was going on, but had no way of knowing it.

The police entered the doctor’s room. Dr SA emerged out, hand-cuffed. He had been arrested for rebelling against the imperialist policies of the government and endangering peace in the country. “Why a battalion of police personnel have descended down to arrest our gentle and genial doctor. Had he been asked, he would have presented himself willingly”, exclaimed a concerned, elderly woman who witnessed that episode.

In 1936 four LSSP presented four candidates for the 2nd State Council elections. They were Dr SA, Philip, NM and Leslie Goonewardena for Morawara, Avissawella, Ruwanwella and Panadura electorates respectively. At Morawaka Dr SA had RC Kannangara as his opponent. Kannangara enjoyed the full backing of the king capitalist Sir D B Jayathilake and his clan. It was Sir DB who launched a spirted campaign to dethrone Dr SA at the first State Council elections in 1931. Dr SA lost Morawaka by vote difference of 2910.

In terms of the new constitution, a person who had been jailed for over three months for an offence punishable by a jail term of over six months was debarred for seven years from contesting in any state election. Dr SA had all the above credentials against him and he became a ‘person a non grata’ as far as elections were concerned.

The parliamentary elections in 1952, saw both Dr SA and his wife Ms Doreen entering the fray. Doreen led the campaign at Akuressa and Dr SA took the fight at Hakmana. Defeat was Dr SA’s lot. He stood humiliated and suffering, but the fighter in him waited for an opportune time. The epoch making election in 1956 turned tables and pave the opportunity for Dr SA to savour sweet success. Dr SA, the leader of the Communist Party won the Akuressa electorate by beating DC Wanigasekera of the UNP with comfortable majority of 6828 votes. Thus, Dr SA entered the high walled portals of the parliamentary complex for the first time. Dr SA continued his winning streaks at the parliamentary election held in March and July 1960. The majority votes he received at the parliamentary elections in 1970 stood at 5541. Dr SA, the leader of the Communist Party was humble enough to offer the ministerial post offered to his party to his deputy Peter Kenumun.

Dr SA loved ‘hydropower generation systems’ above his calling as a communist, a doctor and a MP. He loved this subject passionately and it took hold of him as an obsession. An inseparable bond seemed to have developed between Dr SA and hydropower generation. Whenever a topic relating hydropower generation was either debated or discussed at the chamber Dr SA was there to make a noteworthy a contribution. He was a western doctor extending the healing touch to a marginalized lot of people; he was a divine physician treating the malady of poverty by giving the medicine of socialism.

Dr SA the western doctor who kept abreast with his Sinhala origins breathed his last on Theosophical. Dr SA will continue to reign supreme in the hearts of minds of the heroic people of Ruhuna, which he served with true devotion and total dedication.