Sirimavo Ratwatte was born on April 17, 1916 to a prominent radala (aristocrat) family. She was educated at Ferguson High School, Ratnapura and St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo. In 1940, she married Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, a prominent politician of Ceylon. Mr. SWRD Bandaranaike was a cabinet minister of the first government of independent Ceylon until he broke away from the United National Party (UNP) to form his own party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). He led a coalition led by his party to win a landslide victory in the 1956 election.
Mrs. Bandaranaike, ‘Forced’ into Politics
In September 1959, Mr. Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk. The SLFP was in chaos. Many coalition partners soon left it and even some of its own members formed their own parties. The SLFP leaders begged Mrs. Bandaranaike to speak in rallies to save the party cause in the election in March 1960.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike was not a good speaker and often would break down on stage. The lady who was not even 44 years old but had lost her husband drew the sympathy of many people, especially the women but drew criticism as the ‘weeping widow’ from the UNP. The SLFP did not win the election but managed to prevent the UNP from getting a majority. The new UNP government fell and fresh elections were called.
In this election held in July, the SLFP won almost half the seats (75 out of 151). Mrs. Bandaranaike, who had not contested the election, was sworn in as the Prime Minister on July 21. She was appointed to the Senate, the Upper House of the then Parliament of Ceylon.
The Prime Minister 1960-1965
One of the successes of Mrs. Bandaranaike was the fact that she managed to get the assistance of some very able persons in governing, especially in the early years, when she was inexperienced. But she was known to be resolute in her decisions as seen in many cases. She was a hard bargainer, as the negotiations concerning the migrant Indian estate workers with the Indian premier Shastri in 1964 showed.
In internal affairs, Mrs. Bandaranaike nationalized many of the religious schools in the country and maintained a close relationship with the Socialist countries. She wanted Ceylon to attain more economic independence from the West. The Americans and the British were especially hostile to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Act of 1961. These policies brought about a coup attempt in 1962 by the Army, which was dominated by pro-Western officers. In 1964, she decided that the storage and distribution of petroleum would be under the sole aegis of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, angering the Americans and the British further more.
In foreign affairs, Ceylon attained hitherto unknown heights under Mrs. Bandaranaike. She was a strong exponent of non-aligned foreign policy. Ceylon was one of 25 inaugural members of the non-aligned movement (NAM) in 1961. In 1962, she was the driving force which brought an end to Sino-Indian border dispute. Although the two giants remained hostile to each other, both maintained very positive relationships with Ceylon. Ceylon’s relative weakness in military capabilities turned out to be an asset in such situations as no one suspected her of having ulterior motives. By the second NAM conference of 1964, Mrs. Bandaranaike was a highly respected leader of the movement.
Second Administration 1970-1977
The Sirimavo Bandaranaike government lost its majority in December 1964, despite their alliance with the LSSP and the Communist Party forged earlier in the same year, as some members of parliament joined the opposition. The election of March 1965 saw the UNP back in power by means of a coalition government. But in 1970, this government was trounced by the United Front (UF) of SLFP, LSSP and CP.
Ceylon removed the last links with the British crown when it became the Republic of Sri Lanka on May 22, 1972. Mrs. Bandaranaike was markedly socialist in her economic policies. Despite this, a Marxist group called the JVP attempted an armed uprising in April 1971. This was largely put down within two months. Sirimavo Bandaranaike showed her toughness in this crisis which prompted one official to famously declare that “she was the only man in her cabinet.”
In the NAM, she became an extremely respected leader, having attended all heads of state level conferences until the fifth, to be held in Colombo in 1976. She was more radical in her approach by that time. This was coupled with ‘draconic’ economic policies in Sri Lanka, which was aimed to attain self-reliance. Western economic pressure, oil crisis of 1973 and the government’s mistakes led to its tragic failure which resulted in a landslide victory for the UNP in 1977 election. The SLFP fell to a disastrous 8 seats out of 168.
Later Years
In 1980, Mrs. Bandaranaike lost her civic rights for seven years on charges of ‘abuse of power.’ However, in the presidential election of 1988, she garnered enough support to seriously challenge the UNP candidacy.
Later, in 1994, when her daughter became President, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was appointed the prime Minister for the third time. But now it was a largely ceremonial office as the real power lay with the President. She remained in office until 2 months before her death. She died after casting her vote in the general election on October 10, 2000.
Sources
Karunadasa, W.M., Sri Lanka and Non-Alignement: A Study of Foreign Policy from 1948 to 1982, Image Lanka Publishers, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka (1997)
Wijesekera, Chitra, Women in Our Legislature: A Sri Lankan Study (from 1931 to 1977), Colombo (1995)
Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka Dies at 84; First Woman Premier
Chamara Sumanapala - Greetings from Sri Lanka!!! I am a science graduate and a chemistry teacher at Royal College, Colombo. I am mainly interested in history, ...
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