Early in the 1950s when a mere 3812 elite urbanites of the then population of 7.5 Million enjoyed more than ½ of the country’s income a group of patriotic intelligentsia met at Madampe and adopted a set of resolutions aimed at changing the course of government and ushering in real freedom to the oppressed masses and to safeguard the national values of the country, and the independence of the people.
The outright rejection of these resolutions by the UNP government made the late Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike to resign his ministerial portfolio and crossover to the opposition on the Budget Day in 1951 with the late Mr. D.A.Rajapakse, father of President Mahinda Rajapakse heroically taking the lead to follow him. Later 4 other UNP MPs and two independent MPs joined the duo.Subsequently after much discussion among the patriotic intelligentsia a decision was taken to form a new party to emancipate the oppressed masses, to strengthen racial amity and national harmony, to confer prime place to national values and liberate the nation from the shackles of imperialist bondage. A notice calling for the formation of this party on 2nd September, 1951 was issued with the signatures of 44 eminent personalities of that time, which included persons of all religions and all races.
Over 10,000 persons, a massive crowd at that time, heeded this call and converged at the Town Hall premises for the formation of the new Party. At this convention the naming of the new party as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was proposed by the late Mr. H.Sri Nissanka and it was seconded by the late Dr. Badi-ud-din Mahmoud. The convention elected Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike as the President, Mr. Bernard Aluvihare, Dr. Badiuddin Mahmoud, and S.Thangarajah as Co-Secretaries and Mr. George R. de Silva as the Treasurer of the new Party SLFP. The nascent Party contested the 1952 General Election and was successful in getting 9 Members elected. In the 1956 it formed an alliance with Mr. Philip Gunawardene’s Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP) and formed the coalition Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and contested the General Election, capturing power winning 51 seats of the 95 member Parliament.
The Government elected by the rural masses, and under the Premiership of Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike, worked to liberate Sri Lanka from the imperial bondages, give pride of place to Sri Lankan cultural values,give priority to uplift the living standards of rural masses,
strengthen the status of farmers, and nationalize the main pillars of the economy.
Unfortunately the Prime Minister was assassinated and died on 26th September, 1959. Since then the Party had a period of turmoil until Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike stepped to take the reins of the Party in 1960.
Mrs. Bandaranaike led the party to victory in the 1960 General Election and became the First Lady Prime Minister of the World. She strengthened the Party’s grassroot rural base and carried out the socialist programmes of the Party molded by the late Mr. Bandaranaike
and continued with firmly imprinting the Sri Lankan identity in the main economic sectors by nationalizing the schools, the oil industry etc., and establishing major industries and Corporations.
Mrs. Bandaranaike led the party in its thick and thin and inculcated the members the value of patriotism, dedication to motherland and the determination to stand at any odd without bowing down external pressure, the noble qualities evidenced in the character of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, referred by some even as the political child of Mrs. Bandaranaike.
What left behind by the SLFP led by Mrs. Bandaranaike has been taken over by the present President of the Party, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and made it as the strongest political party in Sri Lanka.President Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President of the SLFP in 2005.
There is no other political party in the history Sri Lanka that has contributed for development of the country, for strengthening the identity of Sri Lanka, for emancipation of the rural masses, as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.(niz).
Posted on Thursday, September 02, 2010 @ 14:58:05 JST by admin
