Bandaranaike commemoration today

Chaminda Perera

The 53rd death anniversary of former Prime Minister S.W.R.D Bandaranaike and 12th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike will be commemorated at a solemn ceremony at the Bandaranaike Samadhi, Horagolla today under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Former Prime Minister S.W.R.D Bandaranaike who founded the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to liberate the oppressed Sri Lankans from the suppression of elites and Anglophile urbanites swept to power at the 1956 election.

The MEP government led by the late Bandaranaike took bold steps to ensure political and economic freedom from the British colonial power. He was assassinated on September 26, 1959.

Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike who became the world's first female Prime Minister in 1960, helped remove the remaining shackles of British colonialism by nationalizing the oil companies braving the threats of Western nations.

She showed more commitment for the uplift of living standards of the down - trodden by launching a number of programmes, including, a mass food production drive.