At the latter stages of British domination in the country we had a number of leaders who actively engaged in the freedom struggle against the British Empire.
The Ceylon National Congress was the most effective organisation comprising leaders such as D.S.Senanayake, F.R.Senanayake, Sir D.B.Jayathilaka, Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Ponnambalam Ramanadan, T.B.Jayah, S.W.R.D.Bandananaike, Dr. N.M.Perera, Sir John Kothelawala, J.R.Jayewardene, Dudley Senanayake who repeatedly requested the King of England to grant independence or self-autonomy to the country. Most of these leaders were prominent members in the State Council who represented different districts and a different strata of society.
It was the era when the freedom struggle in India for self-Government was gaining ground and it had a direct impact on our country as well since the Ceylon National Congress had a close rapport with Indian Freedom Fighters. The politicians of the day, irrespective of any differences called upon the British rulers to grant the country self-autonomy since the people are quite confident and capable of looking after their affairs.
Eventually it came to a stage where the mighty monarch had to heed to the people’s request and appointed Lord Soulbury to make recommendations with regard to the internal administration of Ceylon.
Introduction of Soulbury Constitution
However, the British Government refused to undertake the drafting of the Constitution in the midst of World War Two since they were busy and D.S.Senanayake, the then chairman of Board of Ministers appointed B.P.Peiris, the Asst. Legal draftsman to draft the new Constitution.
The 1946 Constitution which B.P.Peiris drafted and named the Soulbury Constitution was the best that Sri Lanka yet had according to some political analysts.
It was the model that the British Government used when it began dismantling its far-flung colonial empire. It had no ideological basis and professed no economic or social objectives. It was only concerned with establishing the essential framework for democratic governance.
The United National Party was formed on September 6, 1946 and most of its office-bearers were prominent members in the National State Council.
D. S. Senanayake the most senior member among them was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the party. The first parliamentary election under the Soulbury Constitution was held in 1947 and the new party headed by D. S. Senanayake managed to garner the majority support in the House with a number of independent members and formed the Government and became the first Prime Minister of the country (then Ceylon).
D. S. Senanayake more than a party leader, Prime Minister and a politician was an undisputed visionary leader who had a clear inborn instinct of making the nation prosperous irrespective of any differences.
His firm commitment for winning independence became a reality few months after his ascension to the Premiership had gone down in the annals of modern history as the most significant achievement during his tenure of office.
The country became independent after a long period of 133 years of British domination and D.S.Senanayake earned the sobriquet “ Father of the Nation”.
Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake’s foremost conviction was to establish inter-communal harmony among all communities as he correctly felt that ethnic sentiments were simmering under the carpet from the early State Council days.
His agricultural development activities such as Galoya multipurpose development project and colonisation schemes were directly catered to intermingle the Sinhala and Tamil community in the North and the East and let them live in harmony.
In his Cabinet he allocated a number of portfolios to Tamil and non Sinhala leaders who were active members in the National State Council. He had an untimely demise falling off the horse back while on his regular exercises at Galle Face Green in 1951 and his name goes down in the history as the greatest visionary leader that Mother Lanka ever produced.
President J.R.Jayewardene is considered to be the epoch maker in the modern history with his ocean of knowledge in State administration and the services he rendered to the nation with his multifaceted programs of economic development that yielded immense financial benefits to the people all over the country.
J.R.Jayewardene who started his political career as a ward member of the Colombo Municipal Council in early 1930s ended his political career after serving as the first Executive President of the country for two terms.
As a young minister in early fifties when he represented the country in San Francisco summit over the Japanese involvement in the II World War, the sentiments expressed by him quoting the stanzas of the Buddha –“Nahi Verena Veranee” had received immense accolades from the world community and Japan had been pardoned.
This noble gesture resulted in Japan becoming a personal friend of Sri Lanka and when J.R.Jayewardene became the National leader of the country Japan generously helped us in a number of development programs.
After the 1956 humiliating defeat, when Sir John Kotelawala stepped down from politics and the party leadership, J.R.J. invited Dudley Senanayake who was in political hibernation for over 4 years to re-enter the party and take over the leadership and J.R.J. gave his fullest support to Dudley and the UNP returned to power in 1960.
Dudley was 4 years younger than J.R. and comparatively less experienced than him but J.R. knew that Dudley was the best choice at that time to gain the public support.
During 1965-1970 UNP Government under Dudley Senanayake, J.R.Jayewardene was the Minister of State and he took various measures to introduce and develop the tourist industry in the country hither to untouched by any previous Government.
J.R.J. also had some minor conflicts and differences of opinion on certain matters with his leader Dudley Senanayake. But unlike the present day some immature politicians he never jeopardised the party membership by resorting to constant disagreements. He sorted out matters amicably with his leader.
With the debacle of the UNP Government in 1970 Dudley Senanayake proposed J.R.J. as the Opposition Leader who performed the Opposition Leaders role in the house admirably.
When Sirimavo Bandaranaike ‘s Government was threatened by the 1971 J.V.P. insurrection J.R.J. as the Opposition Leader gave his unconditional support to PM Sirimavo Bandaranaike to thwart the JVP terrorism all over the country.
Four-times Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake passed away in 1973 and the undisputed leader J.R.J. was elected the leader of the UNP unanimously.
When Sirimavo Bandaranaike decided to extend the period of Government by 2 years J.R. launched an aggressive campaign against the move and finally resigned from his seat and went for a bye-election as a token of protest and returned to Parliament with a thumping majority.
J.R.Jayewardene was an astute leader who had gathered an ocean of knowledge in politics and state administration was able to fully reorganise the party mechanism according to his modern thinking.
It was the first time that the UNP selected young vibrant and upcoming youths from rural areas as UNP electoral organisers.
Prior to the early seventies the UNP was branded by the leftwing leaders as a party of the elite and educated class who were connected to each other. UNP – Uncle Nephew Party – or “Unge Nedeyinge Pakshaya”.
With J.R.Jayewardene’s effective reorganisational activities, and with the economic hardships suffered by the people all over the country due to closed door economic policies of Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s regime, the United National Party in the 1977 general election recorded an unprecedented victory of a 5/6th majority.
J.R.Jayewardene became the Prime Minister and appointed the Cabinet with his able lieutenants such as Ranasinghe Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, Ronnie De Mel, Dr. Anandatissa De Alwis, A.C.S.Hameed and a number of other electoral leaders.
He lost no time in introducing his brainchild, 1978 Constitution and became the First Executive President of Sri Lanka, in February 1978.
It was a clear turning point in the multifaceted economic and social development in the country. With his new economic policy, vast strides were made in all spheres. Foreign direct investments were attracted to the country.
Employment opportunities were created. Consumer durables and luxury items hitherto enjoyed only by a handfull of people were freely available to all citizens and the living standard of the people enhanced substantially. Large scale development projects were carried out and the agriculture economy prospered considerably.
President J.R.J. was a very straight forward leader and never hesitated to take appropriate actions he thought was good for his countrymen.
When almost the entire international leaders were against the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Falkland issue, our envoy at the summit Foreign Minister A.C.S.Hameed informed the situation to President, and J.R.J’s prompt reply was “my instructions stand unchanged”.
Later on the British Government headed by Margaret Thatcher funded the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Development Project. There was an occasion where Mahanayake Theras tried to intervene with an administrative matter and President JRJ clearly told them “please attend to the religious activities and work for the propagation of Buddhism and let me handle the State administration”.
There was also an occasion where he fired one of his able ministers Cyril Mathew for violating the party regulations.
Indo-Lanka Peace Accord
After having failed all peaceful negotiations and peace talks with the LTTE movement President JRJ decided to sign the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord as a solution to the ethnic issue with the introduction of Provincial Councils and there was a chaotic situation in the country as the main Opposition SLFP and a number of civil society groups and some Maha Sanga also opposed this attempt vehemently.
But he very boldly stood by his decision despite the objections from many quarters. That was his forte.
Another Minister Gamini Jayasuriya was forced to step down from his ministerial portfolio as he didn’t agree with the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord. President JRJ chaired a number of International leader gatherings here and overseas and brought honour to the country with the sentiments expressed by him.
Indeed according to some political analysts and impartial critics President JRJ is considered not only as a vibrant National Leader but also as an Epoch Maker who had rendered also an immeasurable service to the nation creating a modern country.
After completing his both terms he honourably retired from politics. Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa was elected the 2nd Executive President of the country at the next Presidential Election held in late 1988 and sworn in as the President in on January 2, 1989.
According to some political analysts the commencement of the downfall of the hitherto well consolidated United National Party began with Ranasinghe Premadasa’s National Leadership for some of the wrong decisions he made such as sidelining party stalwarts like Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayaka, G.M.Premachandra who aggressively canvassed for his victory.
Chaotic situation
Within a short period into his presidency there was a chaotic situation among the top brass of the UNP and President Ranasinghe Premadasa had to face an impeachment motion engineered by Lalith and Gamini ably supported by the Opposition. However, President Premadasa managed to defeat the motion with the majority support and Ranil Wickremesinghe who was a senior minister firmly stood by Premadasa displaying his commitment to democracy and loyality to his leader and the party.
President R.Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993 and the transition of power was smoothly arranged by Ranil Wickremesinghe from behind the screen, without letting the country to a politically chaotic situation and Prime Minister D.B.Wijetunga was sworn in as the President. Ranil Wickremesinghe the Minister of Science and Technology and the leader of the House then was unanimously elected as the Prime Minister.
However, due to the prolonged LTTE atrocities the UNP suffered heavily losing large number of its prominent members and at the subsequent General Election Party was marginally defeated by PA just by one vote in the House. Some senior members who broke away and returned to the party at that time had suggested to get the support of Muslim Congress Leader A.H.M.Ashraff and form a UNP led Government.
But Ranil Wickremesinghe displaying his statesmanship qualities and commitment to democracy, immediately stepped down from the Premiership allowing Chandrika Kumaratunga to form the Government.
From 1977 up to 1994 Ranil Wickremesinghe had worked under three UNP leaders and held a number of Ministerial Portfolios and he had rendered a commendable service to the nation.
All the development projects that he carried out such as National Youth Services Council at Maharagama, Belwood Aesthetic Studies Development Centre in Kandy, Introduction of the University Colleges concept to produce well trained teachers to name a few, were mainly focused on the nation building process with a clear vision for the future generation.
He was a politician with a gifted talent to foresee the future trends in economy, technology, science, education and even in political arenas domestically and internationally.
The United National Party bounced back to power under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s leadership in 2001 and became the Prime Minister under Chandrika Kumarathunga’s Presidency.
LTTE destruction was at its peak at the time and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe single-handedly entered into a ceasefire agreement with guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and tried to initiate negotiations for a peaceful solution with the help of the international mediators.
Prabhakaran breached the ceasefire agreement within a few months but their military strength was weakened substantially as two prominent military wing leaders namely Karuna Amman and Pillayan broke away from the movement and entered main-stream politics.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe negotiated a huge financial assistance from the Japanese Government for the development activities of the country in 2003.
Opportunistic radical politicians realised that it would be disastrous to their forward march and exerted pressure on President Chandrika Kumaratunga to dissolve the Government prematurely.
Over 130 members in the Parliament through affidavits expressed their allegiance to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Government. But despite all that president Kumaratunga dissolved the Parliament and the UNP was defeated at the election resulting in losing the huge Japanese aid to the country.
2005 Presidential Election
The 2005 Presidential election was an insignificant milestone of the political journey of Ranil Wickremesinghe as he was defeated by a wafer thin majority by Mahinda Rajapaksa by bribing a huge amount of money to the LTTE movement to deprive the Tamil community in the North and East to cast their vote.
Thereafter, the UNP suffered heavily at the number of subsequent elections as most of its senior members deserted the party and joined the Rajapaksa camp for ministerial portfolios and various other perks.
Following this pathetic political situation of the party its leadership was challenged by a dissident group headed by its deputy leader Sajith Premadasa. He tried his possible utmost to oust Ranil Wickremesinghe from the leadership through various means but Ranil Wickremesinghe stood firm like a rock without yielding to the pressure exerted by these political novices.
This uncouth leadership battle of Sajith Premadasa lasted about 10 years jeopardising the party membership and finally they broke away from UNP and joined the SJB, a party owned by one Diana Gamage.
At the last general election the UNP suffered its worst defeat and was entitled for just one parliamentary seat based on the number of votes cast for the party. Ranil Wickremesinghe was not very much interested in getting the national slot in the house but all the executive members and party stalwarts requested that the leader should represent them in the parliament.
After almost one and a half years after the election he was sworn in as the solo member in the house from the United National Party.
As a true democrat and a responsible party leader he made his contribution in the Parliament quite admirably from the very first day.
When the deadly Corona pandemic was looming in the country he suggested to the Government to promptly take various precautionary measures for which they didn’t pay adequate attention. Some laughed at him and some made scornful remarks.
Ranil Wickremesinghe repeatedly told Parliament that we would have to live with this problem at for least two years and adequate medical supplies such as vaccines, antigen test kits, hospital beds and ICU facilities to be increased in order to save the people from this deadly pandemic.
If the relevant authorities had taken prompt action the number of deaths recorded in the country would have been very much less.
With regard to the economic crises in the country from late 2021, Ranil Wickremesinghe repeatedly told the Government to seek IMF assistance as the best solution to get out of the mess for which as usual some members laughed at him and some made derogatory remarks based on their political ideology.
From the beginning of 2022 the Rajapaksa regime was becoming rapidly unpopular due to the wrong economic policies, mismanagement of vital institutions, arrogant behaviour of handling very sensitive issues and the unprecedented degree of corruption taking place in all development projects, which directly affected the cost of living of every Sri Lankan.
There were fuel and gas shortages, scarcity of essential medicines and infant milk powder and long black outs and exorbitant price hikes of day to day essential food items directly contributed to the voluntary public uproar against the Government.
People from all walks of life irrespective of any differences got on to the streets and agitated against the Government demanding the resignation of the President and the Prime Minister.
On May 9, a large group of protesters led by university students and backed by bankrupt political opportunists had a confrontation at the Gall Face Green with some hooligans of yje Pohottuwa Party which led to a mass scale destruction of public and private property and a cold-blooded murder of a sitting parliamentarian.
In this crisis Prime Minister Mahinda Rakapaksa was forced to step down and the entire Cabinet fell vacant.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa abiding by the constitutional requirements invited Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa to form a new Government for which his response was negative and it was so with others whom the President invited for lack of confidence and aptitude to accept challenge at a chaotic situation.
Then President invited the UNP leader the solo parliamentarian in the house Ranil Wickremesinghe who accepted the challenge boldly with his long-years of political experience and ocean of knowledge in steering the country especially in a crisis.
He was appointed Prime Minister by the President and he formed a temporary Cabinet. However, the protesters continued their agitation even more aggressively supported by a number of anti Government groups and amidst this tense situation Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country and Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Actg. President.
Ranil Wickremesinghe becomes the 8th Executive President
When the resignation letter of Gotabaya Rajapaksa was received by the Speaker a few days later, he immediately announced the new presidential election in Parliament according to constitutional requirements.
The UNP leader, acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected with a handsome majority in the house proving to the world that he is an indispensable political icon in Sri Lanka.
If Ranil Wickremesinghe had not accepted the challenge in this critical hour the country would have been driven to an anarchial state as the Aragalaya protesters were ably backed by the radical political hooligans of bankrupt political parties who tried even to destroy the parliamentary complex.
Ranil Wickremesinghe displayed his statesmanship qualities and promptly issued orders and directives to the relevant authorities to combat the destructive forces forthwith.
Within a matter of hours the atrocious situation was brought under control and a large number of hooligans were apprehended.
After becoming the Executive President of the country he cordially invited all Opposition parties in the Parliament to join the Government and make their contribution to pull the country out of this drastic catastrophic economic situation. There are many instances domestically and internationally where the Opposition has given unconditional support to the ruling party to overcome grave situations that affect the nation. But most unfortunately our main opposition SJB is not politically matured enough to take timely decisions for the benefit of the people.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe immediately started maneuvering the badly crippled economy with a handful of his party loyalists in his personal staff and ably supported by a number of vibrant ministers and with the active participation of the officials in the Central Bank and other relevant institutions. Within a few months into his presidency he was able to provide a number of relief measures to the people.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe promptly negotiated the IMF financial assistance successfully and obtained the first tranche making the economic development process easier. He was never overjoyed and told the people to be prudent and act with restrain since there is a long way to go to achieve the desired results for the economic freedom. He never gave false promises or unrealistic expectations to the public to remain in power.
The multifaceted development program of work he has announced for the nation building process is amazing, admirable and praiseworthy.
After becoming the President Ranil Wickremesinghe had attended a number of meetings with world leaders and some leaders were astonished to learn the deep understanding that Sri Lankan President has on various international issues in multiple spheres and his strong commitment of the foreign policy being non-biased towards any powerful nation in the world.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe during his long political career had already proved himself an upright, rigid, straightforward, democratic and an astute politician and a Statesman par excellence.
