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Sri Lanka Emergence of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Following its defeat in 1952, the SLFP marshaled its forces
in preparation for the next national election. The 1956 election
was destined to become a turning point in the modern history of
Sri Lanka and is seen by many observers as a social revolution
resulting in the eclipse of the Westernized elite. S.W.R.D.
Bandaranaike campaigned as the "defender of a besieged Sinhalese
culture" and demanded radical changes in the system. Bandaranaike
came from a family of Westernized Sinhalese and was educated at
Oxford, but early in his political career, he rejected many of
the Western elements of his background and embraced the Buddhist
faith and adopted native garb (regarded at the time as an
affectation among members of his class). Bandaranaike brought to
the election a deep knowledge of the passions that communal
politics could provoke. His Sinhala Maha Sabha, founded in 1937
as a movement within the Ceylon National Congress, was the only
wing of the congress at that time that sought to infuse a Sinhala
consciousness into Sri Lankan nationalism. The Sinhala Maha Sabha
formed the backbone of Bandaranaike's SLFP and helped spread his
1956 election warning that Buddhism was in danger. Accusations of
a "conspiracy" between the UNP and the Roman Catholic Church
helped raise emotions feverishly. As one commentator put it,
"Bandaranaike built up a popular following based on the Sinhalese
dislike of Christian influence, essentially stoking the fires of
communal and religious bigotry."
Bandaranaike and his supporters used the UNP's pro-Western
stance as a potent propaganda weapon against the party. He
claimed that the independence granted in 1948 was "fake" and that
real independence could only be attained by severing all links
with the Commonwealth of Nations. In economic matters,
Bandaranaike planned to nationalize plantations, banks, and
insurance companies. He advocated the control over trade and
industry vested in Sinhalese hands. With such a radical platform,
Bandaranaike managed to unite many disparate groups into his
People's United Front (Mahajana Eksath Peramuna--MEP), a
political coalition under the leadership of his SLFP formed to
defeat the UNP. In addition, he was able to forge a no-contest
pact with two Marxist parties, the LSSP and the CPSL.
The central and most explosive issue of the 1956 election was
a linguistic one. After independence, it was commonly accepted
that Sinhala and Tamil would replace English as the language of
administration, but Bandaranaike announced that only Sinhala
would be given official status if his coalition won the election.
Bandaranaike introduced a dangerous emotionalism into the
election with his "Sinhala only" platform, which labeled both
Tamil and English as cultural imports.
The 2,500th anniversary of the death of the Buddha (which
also marked the legendary landing of Vijaya and his followers on
the island) coincided with the 1956 election, electrifying the
political atmosphere. The UNP was susceptible to the emotional
power of these issues. In what was later seen as a shameless
last-minute reversal, the party also espoused the "Sinhala only"
program. This political about-face came too late to help the UNP,
for the party lost the election, winning only eight seats in
parliament. The People's United Front won the majority share of
fifty-one seats.
Data as of October 1988
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