American author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury famously said, ‘One should not belong to a political party - one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.’
Elections over three days
The election unlike today was held over three days with a gap of couple days in between, on the first day on 5th April, the ruling party in the absence of a powerful Elections Commissioner, decided to poll the seats most advantageous and easily winnable by UNP. In fact out of a total constituencies of 95, PM Sir John’s Dodangaslanda and all Cabinet ministers seats totaling 37 were included on this day so that the electorate could be influenced on a result favourable to them: and the oppositions strongholds, like Attanagalle to the last or third day. This calculated move boomeranged on them when Bandaranaike won 29, leaving only eight for UNP, that included PM and just one minister, MD Banda winning. The government failed to return a single member in the next two days. On the third day SWRD won with a majority of 45,000 votes.
The year 1956 was widely accepted as a landmark because the prevailing atmosphere had created an appropriate climate for changing strongly felt religious and social and ‘injustices’. The results of the election proved that the electorate had been enthusiastically waiting to grab a chance for it.
Language policy was one of the main issues at the time. Most of Sinhalese and Tamils were held up without any significant place in the society.
Foreign invaders, who plundered this island from the beginning of 16th century thought that a proper administration was not possible without untying Buddhism from the people.
Especially under Portuguese and Dutch rulers, a slow destruction of Buddhism and Hinduism was taking place and the system of Education in temples or Pirivena was neglected. Traditional values were allowed to perish. A new class emerged who embraced Christian faith and changed their lifestyles sharply.
The results of 1956
The result of the 1956 Election was a surprise. Even Bandaranaike did not imagine that he could form a government without the Marxists support. However, the results proved otherwise. Out of the 95 seats, the MEP won 51, and UNP only eight seats. LSSP and CP won 14 and 3 respectively while Independents won eight. While Federal Party secured 10 seats the Tamil Congress could retain only one. In addition to 51 the government appoints six members to their side.
The UNP’s defeat at the 1956 Election could be attributed to economic hardships people underwent since 1953. The gap between the ruling party and the common man widened systematically under Sir John. Though, it altered the nature of politics in the country from the exclusiveness that had portrayed up till then or the domination by privileged that represented Parliament, except for a negligible few from working and middle class.
The state of a large number of intelligentsia such as Bhikkus, teachers, Ayurvedic doctors who were not English educated and brought up under traditional local culture was pathetic. Catching up with key standards, the language barrier was a huge hurdle for them. The living standard of the majority of people was far from acceptable levels. Increased price of food, chaotic education poor health facilities, housing, and urban unemployment made their situation worse.
Culture and language issues
With the MEP led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party winning the elections in April 1956 and Bandaranaike becoming the Prime Minister, the policy direction of the government placed an emphasis on indigenous culture and language, and it campaigned for nationalisation of major resources and assets.
The new Government set up heavy industries for the manufacture of cement, steel, and textiles. The National Planning Council that was established in October 1956, announced a ten-year (1959–1968) development programme for the entire economy, aiming at exploiting resources at a most favourable level. A year later, the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact which proposed the creation of Regional Councils as a solution to the communal disagreements was signed between Bandaranaike and Chelvanayakam, the leader of the Northern political party. However, due to heavy resistance by Sinhalese extremist forces and main Opposition UNP it was abrogated in May 1958. The abandonment led to anxiety and friction between the two communities causing several rounds of ethnic violence finally leading to a thirty-year civil war and loss of 60,000 lives.
Prime Minister SWRD was assassinated in September 1959 and W. Dahanayake was sworn in as the PM. With the winning of the Elections in March 1960, Dudley Senanayake was sworn in as the Prime Minister. It was a Government without a majority and was short-lived; it lost the vote on Statement of the Crown and was dissolved for holding fresh elections in July 1960. Dudley’s inability to form a coalition; lack of minimum seats required to defeat an opposition motion of no confidence: it was the practice under the Westminster parliamentary democracy.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s SLFP won the General Elections held in July 1960, she was sworn in as the PM.
The result of the 1956 general election demonstrated that people had been enthusiastically waiting to grab an opportunity for this change. It is generally accepted that the year 1956 was a landmark in history because it had created an appropriate climate for taking strong actions against social injustices. The new movements were triumphant; it defeated anti-social elements which had hampered the progress of the country. Under foreign rule, traditional value systems were allowed to decay: a steady destruction of culture was carried out and the early pattern of Education in Pirivena (temple schools) was neglected.
Both education an administration were controlled by Christians, and in course of time, they were able to dominate public life to a great extent. A new class that embraced Christianity and followed English education emerged, and their lifestyles and behaviour sharply deviated from that of the common people of this land. There were quite a few factors behind UNP’s loss in1956. It was cautious but slow in meeting demands from the poor. Heavy economic burdens was a cause as some columnist/analysts of the day pointed out. However, it is not fair to say that UNP had completely ignored the above. DS Senanayake government brought in quite a few progressive acts. In fact, what happened was the gap between the UNP leaders and the ordinary people widened steadily under Sir John’s regime. It failed to assess the forces behind the language movement and the cultural resurgence.
Assassinations
Sixty two years are a long time in one’s life; and not a single MP who was in parliament in 1956 is alive today. Assassins destroyed two outstanding personalities of that parliament being victims of the socio-political forces they themselves had unsuspectingly motivated. A misguided Sinhala extremist monk, Somarama who had been brainwashed by his highly corrupt political manipulator, the Chief of Kelaniya temple, Buddharakkitha who supported SWRD’s ’56 campaign came forward to eliminate the PM motivated by his own business interests. Next was Appapillai Amirthalingam leader of Tamils, a gentleman politician was killed by Tiger gunmen of Prabhakaran in 1989. Amirthalingam was one among them who had been a parliamentarian in 1956. [email protected]
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