Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (April 17, 1916 – October 10, 2000) was a
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
n politician and the first female Prime Minister in the world. She served as Prime Minister of Ceylon and Sri Lanka three times, from 1960 to 1965, 1970 to 1977 and 1994 to 2000 and was long time leader of the
Sri Lanka Freedom PartyThe Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in 1951 and, since then, has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the...
.
Bandaranaike was the widow of a previous Sri Lankan prime minister,
Solomon BandaranaikeSolomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike was the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon , serving from 1956 until his assassination by a Buddhist monk in 1959...
and the mother of Sri Lanka's third President,
Chandrika KumaratungaChandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was the 4th Executive president of Sri Lanka, serving from November 12, 1994 to November 19, 2005. The daughter of two former Prime Ministers, she was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005. She is Sri Lanka's only female president to...
, as well as
Anura BandaranaikeAnura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician, served as Speaker , and in several cabinet ministries as Foreign Minister briefly in 2005, Minister of Higher Education , Minister of Tourism , Minister of National Heritage and Leader of the Opposition Anura Priyadarshi...
, former speaker and minister.
Early life
She was born April 17, 1916 as Sirimavo Ratwatte to a prominent
RadalaThe Radala refer to an extremely small minority caste in the Kandyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka. They were the aristocracy of the Kandyan Kingdom. After capturing the Kandyan provinces in 1815 with the aid of locals from both maritime and Kandyan provinces, the British created an extensive class of loyal...
family, who were descended from Ratwatte Dissawa, Dissawa of Matale a signatory on behalf of the
SinhaleseThe Sinhalese are the main ethnic group of Sri Lanka, constituting 74% of the population. They speak Sinhala an Indo-Aryan language, and number approximately 14 million.-Origin:...
to the
Kandyan Convention of 1815The Kandyan Convention was an agreement in 1815 between the British and the Chiefs of the the Kandyan Kingdom, in Sri Lanka for the deposition of rule of the king Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. The king who was of South Indian ancestry faced powerful opposition from the Sinhalese chieftains and sought to...
. Born to Barnes Ratwatte Dissawe and Rosalind Mahawelatenne Kumarihamy of Mahawelatenne
WalauwaA Walauwa is the name given to a feudal manor house in Sri Lanka . There were 18 main walauwas in the Kandyan Kingdom of Ceylon...
,Balangoda. she is the eldest of four brothers and a sister.She was educated at
St Bridget's Convent, ColomboSt Bridget's Convent is a private girls' school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was founded on February 1st, 1902 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd order, making it one of the earliest mission schools of the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland in Ceylon...
, but was a practicing Buddhist. In 1940 she married Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, a member of the
State councilThe State Council of Ceylon was the legislative body created in Sri Lanka by the British colonial power in terms of the Donoughmore Constitution, which gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony...
and son of the powerful Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike the
Maha MudaliyarMudali was a colonial title & office in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese colonials created the Mudaliyar class in the 17th century by enlisting natives of other castes form the coastal areas, who were most likely to serve the Portuguese masters with utmost loyalty. The Dutch continued the practice of the...
(the chief native interpreter and advisor to the
GovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
).
Political background
On her husband Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike's assassination, Bandaranaike took over the leadership of his
Sri Lanka Freedom PartyThe Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in 1951 and, since then, has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the...
kept it for forty years until her death, became a Senator and lead her party to an election victory in 1956. She became prime minister on July 21, 1960 as a member of the Senate and ruled her country on and off throughout the 1960s and 1970s until she was crushingly defeated in a general election in 1977. In 1980, she was expelled from parliament for abuse of power, and banned from public office for seven years.
A staunch socialist, Bandaranaike continued her husband's policies of nationalizing key sectors of the economy, such as banking and insurance, and also nationalizing all schools then owned by the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
in 1961. Unfortunately, she was on a roller-coaster ride from the moment she took office and within a year of her 1960 election victory she declared a
state of emergency. This followed a
civil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary methods of nonviolent resistance...
campaign by part of the country's minority
TamilTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
population who were outraged by her decision to drop
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
as an official language and her order to conduct all government business in Sinhala, the language of the majority
SinhaleseThe Sinhalese are the main ethnic group of Sri Lanka, constituting 74% of the population. They speak Sinhala an Indo-Aryan language, and number approximately 14 million.-Origin:...
. This they considered a highly discriminatory act and an attempt to deny Tamils access to all official posts and the law. This led to an increase in Tamil militancy which escalated under succeeding administrations.
Further problems arose with the state takeover of foreign businesses, particularly the petroleum companies, which upset the
AmericansThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the
BritishThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
, who imposed an aid
embargoAn embargo is the prohibition of commerce and trade with a certain country, in order to isolate it and to put its government into a difficult internal situation, given that the effects of the embargo are often able to make its economy suffer from the initiative. It is similar to a blockade, as in...
on
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
. As a result, Bandaranaike moved her country closer to
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
and championed a policy of nonalignment. At home, she crushed an attempted military coup in 1962 by Catholic officers. In 1964, she entered into a historic coalition with the
Lanka Sama Samaja PartyThe Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
(LSSP). At the end of that year, she was defeated on a confidence vote, losing the general election that followed. Six years later she bounced back, her
United FrontThe United Front was a political alliance in Sri Lanka, formed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party , the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in 1968...
winning a substantial majority in the 1970 elections.
Her second term saw a new Constitution introduced, which ended the country's status as a
Commonwealth realmA Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 132 million; all but about two million live in the six most populous states, the United...
. Ceylon was renamed
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
and declared a republic. But after just 16 months in power, a left-wing youth uprising almost toppled her government:1971 JVP Insurrection. Sri Lanka's small army was caught off guard due to the lack of early warning since the county's intelligence unit was disbanded by Mrs Bandaranaike fearing it being loyal to the UNP the year before. However the Sri Lanka Army quickly mobilized its reservist and held its ground although some remote areas of the country where occupied by the insurgents. She was saved by her skillful foreign policy when the country's non-aligned friends rushed to her help. In a rare move, both
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
sent troops to
ColomboColombo is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins and a city...
to aid Bandaranaike in crushing the insurgency by deploying them to guard airports and port, freeing up Sri Lankan service personal for offensives. In those tough political years, she turned herself into a formidable leader.
"She was the only man in her cabinet", one of her officials commented during the height of the insurgency.
The 1973 oil crisis had a traumatic effect on the
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
n economy; the government had no access to Western aid and her socialist policies stifled economic activity. Rationing had to be imposed. Bandaranaike became more and more intolerant of criticism and forced the shut-down of the Independent newspaper group, whose publications were her fiercest critics. Earlier she had nationalized the country's largest newspaper,
Lake House, which has remained the government's official mouthpiece.
Style of functioning
Known to her fellow Sri Lankans as "Mrs. B," she could skillfully use popular emotion to boost her support, frequently bursting into tears as she pledged to continue her assassinated husband's policies. Her opponents and critics called her the
"weeping widow".
Decline
By 1976, Bandaranaike was more respected abroad than at home. Her great triumph that year was to become chairman of the
Non-Aligned MovementThe Non-Aligned Movement is an international organisation of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The movement is largely the brainchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and Yugoslav...
and host the largest heads of state conference the country had ever seen. Despite her high standing internationally, she was losing Sri Lankan support rapidly amid allegations of corruption and against the background of a rapidly declining economy . Nothing, it seemed, could save her. This led her government, which enjoyed a large majority of more than 75% in parliament, to use its majority gained in the previous election to postpone elections by two years, extending her administration's term to 8 years from the legal 6 years. This undemocratic action was the main reason her civic rights were suspended in the later years.
She suffered a crushing
election defeatThe 1977 Sri Lankan election heralded the beginning of a new period of Sri Lanka's history - a period of unprecedented violence.-Background:...
in 1977 and was stripped of her civic rights due to abuse of power. The 1980s were her dark days - she became a political outcast rejected by the people who had once worshipped her. Banadaranaike spent the next seventeen years in opposition warding off challenges to her leadership of the SLFP, even from her own children. Always the politician, she played her ambitious daughter,
ChandrikaChandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was the 4th Executive president of Sri Lanka, serving from November 12, 1994 to November 19, 2005. The daughter of two former Prime Ministers, she was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005. She is Sri Lanka's only female president to...
, and son,
AnuraAnura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician, served as Speaker , and in several cabinet ministries as Foreign Minister briefly in 2005, Minister of Higher Education , Minister of Tourism , Minister of National Heritage and Leader of the Opposition Anura Priyadarshi...
, against one another, holding on to control despite losing every subsequent general election. She finally met her match in Chandrika who outmanoeuvred her mother to become prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1994, when a
SLFP-led coalitionThe People's Alliance is a front of political parties in Sri Lanka, formed in 1994.It comprises the following parties:* Sri Lanka Freedom Party* Lanka Sama Samaja Party* Communist Party of Sri Lanka* Sri Lanka Mahajana Party...
won power in the
general electionsThe Sri Lankan parliamentary election of 1994 marked the decisive end of 17 years of UNP rule and a revival of Sri Lankan democracy.-Background:Democracy in Sri Lanka had seemed doomed as the presidencies of J.R...
, and president the following year.
Bandaranaike became
prime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
again, but the constitution had changed since her last tenure; she, as the prime minister was subordinate to her daughter, the president. She remained in office just a few months before her death, but had little real power. She died on election day October 10, 2000, having cast her vote for the last time.
Family life
She married S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in 1940, who became the third prime minister of Ceylon. She was mother of
Chandrika KumaratungaChandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was the 4th Executive president of Sri Lanka, serving from November 12, 1994 to November 19, 2005. The daughter of two former Prime Ministers, she was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005. She is Sri Lanka's only female president to...
, who was subsequently
Prime Minister-Overview:The Prime Minister a member of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka and its titular head. However both head of state and head of government in Sri Lanka is the President. The Prime Minister acts as the President's deputy acting on his behalf in his/her absence or incapacitation and is the first in...
and the fourth female
Executive presidentAn executive president is a president who exercises active executive power in a certain systems of government. Executive presidents are active in day-to-day governance of a nation, and are usually popularly elected....
in the world,
Sunethra BandaranaikeSunethra Bandaranaike is a Sri Lankan philanthropist and former politician. She is the eldest daughter of former Prime Ministers Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike and sister of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and former speaker Anura...
and
Anura BandaranaikeAnura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician, served as Speaker , and in several cabinet ministries as Foreign Minister briefly in 2005, Minister of Higher Education , Minister of Tourism , Minister of National Heritage and Leader of the Opposition Anura Priyadarshi...
.
See also
- Political Families of The World
- Attempted military coup in Ceylon, 1962
An attempted military coup of 1962 in Sri Lanka a failed one was planned by several Christian senior military and police officers which tried to topple the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mrs.Sirimavo Bandaranaike...
External links