Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Hon. Sirimavo Bandaranaike
සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක
United Press International, 1960
Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
In office 14 November 1994 – 10 August 2000
President	Chandrika Kumaratunga
Preceded by	Chandrika Kumaratunga
Succeeded by	Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
In office 29 May 1970 – 23 July 1977
Monarch	Elizabeth II (Until 22 May 1972)
President	William Gopallawa (From 22 May 1972)
Governor General	William Gopallawa (Until 22 May 1972)
Preceded by	Dudley Senanayake
Succeeded by	J. R. Jayewardene
In office 21 July 1960 – 27 March 1965
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governors General	Oliver Goonetilleke William Gopallawa
Preceded by	Dudley Senanayake
Succeeded by	Dudley Senanayake
Leader of the Opposition
In office 9 March 1989 – 24 June 1994
President	Ranasinghe Premadasa Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
Prime Minister	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Ranil Wickremesinghe
Preceded by	Anura Bandaranaike
Succeeded by	Gamini Dissanayake
In office 5 April 1965 – 25 March 1970
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governors General	Oliver Goonetilleke William Gopallawa
Prime Minister	Dudley Senanayake
Preceded by	Dudley Senanayake
Succeeded by	J. R. Jayewardene
Cabinet posts Minister without Portfolio In office 19 August 1994 – 14 November 1994 President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga Minister of External Affairs and Defence In office 29 May 1970 – 23 July 1977 Monarch Elizabeth II (Until 22 May 1972) President William Gopallawa (From 22 May 1972) Governor General William Gopallawa (Until 22 May 1972) Prime Minister Herself Preceded by Dudley Senanayake Succeeded by J. R. Jayewardene In office 21 July 1960 – 25 March 1965 Monarch Elizabeth II Governors General Oliver Goonetilleke William Gopallawa Prime Minister Herself Preceded by Dudley Senanayake Succeeded by Dudley Senanayake
Leadership positions 3rd Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party In office 7 May 1960 – (de facto) May 1993, (officially) 12 November 1994 Preceded by C. P. de Silva Succeeded by Chandrika Kumaratunga
Constituencies Member of Parliament for National List In office 19 August 1994 – 10 August 2000 Member of Parliament for Gampaha In office 15 February 1989 – 16 August 1994 Majority 214,390 (1989) Member of Parliament for Attanagalla In office 5 April 1965 – 16 October 1980 Preceded by James Obeysekera Succeeded by Lakshman Jayakody Majority 30,226 (1977) Ceylonese Senator In office 2 August 1960 – 4 December 1964 (Parliament dissolved) Preceded by Piyadasa de Zoysa Succeeded by
Personal details
Born	Sirima Ratwatte (1916-04-17)17 April 1916 Ellawala Walawwa, Ratnapura, British Ceylon
Died	10 October 2000(2000-10-10) (aged 84) Kadawatha, Western Province, Sri Lanka
Resting place	Horagolla Bandaranaike Samadhi
Political party	Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Spouse	Solomon Bandaranaike ​ ​ (m. 1940; died 1959)​
Relations	Ratwatte family Bandaranaike family
Children	Sunethra Chandrika Anura
Parents	Barnes Ratwatte Rosalind Kumarihamy
Residences	Tintagel Horagolla Walauwa
Education	Ferguson High School, Ratnapura St Bridget's Convent, Colombo
Occupation	Social worker politician diplomat stateswoman

Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala: සිරිමා රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක, Tamil: சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே; 17 April 1916 – 10 October 2000), commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan stateswoman. She became the world's first definitive non-hereditary female head of state or government when she was elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960. She served three terms: 1960–1965, 1970–1977 and 1994–2000.

Born into a well-to-do Kandyan family, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was educated in Catholic, English-speaking schools, though in fact she was Buddhist and spoke Sinhala as well as English. On graduating from secondary school, she worked in various social programmes before marrying and raising a family. Playing hostess to her husband S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who was involved in politics and later became Prime Minister, she gained his trust as an informal advisor. Her work in a voluntary social improvement projects focused on improving the lives of village women and girls. Following her husband’s assassination in 1959, Sirimavo Bandaranaike entered politics and in 1960 became the first elected woman to serve as Prime Minister of a country.

Bandaranaike attempted to reform the former British Colony of Ceylon into a socialist republic by nationalizing organizations in the banking, education, industry, media and trade sectors. Changing the administrative language from English to Sinhala, she acerbated discontent among the estate Tamils, who had become stateless under the Citizenship Act of 1948. During Bandaranaike's first two terms as Prime Minister, the country was plagued by high inflation and taxes, a dependence on food imports to feed the populace, high unemployment, and polarization between the Sinhalese and Tamil populations. Surviving an attempted coup d'état in 1962, as well as a 1971 insurrection of radical youths, in 1972 she led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to draft a new constitution and form a republic. In 1975, Bandaranaike created what would eventually become the Sri Lankan Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, also appointing the first woman to serve in the Sri Lankan Cabinet. Bandaranaike's tenure was marked by inadequate economic development at the national level, while simultaneously successfully navigating the polarized Cold War factions through her leadership in the Non-Aligned Nations.

Ousted from power in the 1977 elections, Bandaranaike was stripped of her civil rights in 1980 and barred from government for seven years. Her successors initially improved the domestic economy, but failing to address social issues, led the country into a protracted civil war. When she returned to party leadership in 1986, Bandaranaike opposed the government solution of allowing the Indian Peace Keeping Force to intervene in the dispute, believing it violated Sri Lankan sovereignty. Failing to win the office of President in 1988, she served as Leader of the Opposition in the legislature from 1989 to 1994. When her daughter won the presidential election that year, Bandaranaike was appointed to her third term as Prime Minister and served until her retirement in 2000, two months prior to her death.

Early life (1916–1940)

The Mahawalatenne family, No.3 Mahawalatenne Rate Mahattaya, No.8 Agnes Mahawalatenne (Nee Ellawala). Maternal grandparents of Sirima Ratwatte.

Sirima Ratwatte was born on 17 April 1916 at the Ellawala Walawwa in Ratnapura, in British Ceylon. Her mother was Rosalind Hilda Mahawalatenne Kumarihamy, daughter of Mahawalatenne Rate Mahatmaya of Balangoda. Her father was Barnes Ratwatte, later Rate Mahatmaya of Balangoda, a native headman. He was a member of the old Ratwatte family, belonging to the well established Radalas from the Kingdom of Kandy. Her paternal ancestry included her uncle Sir Jayatilaka Cudah Ratwatte, the first person from Kandy to receive a British knighthood, as well as courtiers serving Sinhalese monarchs. One of these, Ratwatte, Dissawa of Matale, was a signatory of the 1815 Kandyan Convention.

Sirima was the eldest in a family of six children, which included four brothers, Barnes Jr., Seevali, Mackie, and Clifford; and one sister, Patricia, who married Colonel Edward James Divitotawela. The family resided at the walawwa of Sirima's maternal grandfather Mahawalatenne, and then later at their own Balangoda walawwa. From a young age, Sirima had unlimited access to her grandfather's vast library of literary and scientific works. She first attended a private kindergarten in Balangoda, moved briefly in 1923 to the primary classes of Ferguson High School, Ratnapura, and was then sent to boarding school at St Bridget's Convent, Colombo. Though her education was in the Catholic school system, Sirima remained a practicing Buddhist throughout her life and was fluent in both English and Sinhala.

After completing her schooling at age 19, Sirima Ratwatte became involved in social work, distributing food and medicine to jungle villages, organizing clinics and helping create rural industry to improve the living standards of village women. She became the treasurer of the Social Service League, serving in that capacity until 1940. Over the next six years, she lived with her parents while they arranged her marriage. After rejecting two suitors – a relative and the son of the first family of Ceylon – Ratwatte's parents were contacted by a matchmaker who proposed a union with Solomon West Ridgeway Dias (S.W.R.D.) Bandaranaike, an Oxford-educated lawyer turned politician, who was at the time Minister of Local Administration in the State Council of Ceylon. Initially, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was not considered to be from an "acceptable" family, as the Ratwattes were an old, well-established Radala family from Kandy, while the Bandaranaikes were an old and wealthy family from the low-country which had been in service of the colonial rulers for centuries. Their horoscopes were found to be compatible, the benefits of uniting the families was weighed, and approval was given. The couple, who had previously met, were in agreement with the choice.

Raising a family, social work (1940–1959)

Horagolla Walawwa, the Bandaranaike ancestral manor

On 2 October 1940, Ratwatte and Bandaranaike married at the Mahawelatenne Walawwa in what was dubbed "the wedding of the century". Their marriage was noted to have helped break down social barriers in Sri Lanka over the years. The newly married couple moved into Wendtworth in Guildford Crescent, Colombo, which was taken on rent from Lionel Wendt. Their daughters, Sunethra (1943) and Chandrika (1945), were born at Wendtworth where the family resided until 1946, when S.W.R.D.'s father bought them a mansion known as Tintagel at Rosmead Place, Colombo. From this point, the family lived part of the year at Tintagel and part of the year at S.W.R.D.'s ancestral manor, Horagolla Walawwa. Their son Anura was born at Tintagel in 1949. Over the next 20 years, Sirima Bandaranaike devoted most of her time to raising her family and playing hostess to her husband's many political acquaintances. She often accompanied him on official trips, both locally and abroad. They were both present after the Mental Asylum in Angoda was bombed by the Japanese during the Easter Sunday Raid in 1942, which resulted in many deaths.

Following her marriage, in 1941 Bandaranaike joined the Lanka Mahila Samiti, the country's largest women's voluntary organization. She became an active member undertaking many of the social projects initiated under the Mahila Samiti for the empowerment of rural women and disaster relief. One of her first projects was an agricultural programme to meet food production shortages. Her first office, as secretary of the organization, involved meeting with farming experts to develop new methods for producing yields of rice crops. Over time, Bandaranaike served as the treasurer, vice president, and eventually president of Mahila Samiti, focusing on issues of girl's education, women's political rights, and family planning initiatives. In addition, she was an active member of the All Ceylon Buddhist Women's Association, the Cancer Society, the Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, and the Nurses Welfare Association.

The Old Parliament Building in Colombo, where the House of Representatives met beginning in 1947

As Ceylon moved toward self-governing status in 1947, Bandaranaike's husband S.W.R.D. became more politically active in the nationalist movement. He ran for – and was elected to – the House of Representatives for the Attanagalla Electoral District. He was appointed Minister of Health and served as Leader of the House, but became increasingly frustrated with the inner workings and policies of the United National Party. Though he did not encourage Bandaranaike to engage on political topics and was dismissive of her in front of colleagues, S.W.R.D. came to respect her judgment. In 1951, she persuaded him to resign from the United National Party and establish the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Bandaranaike campaigned in S.W.R.D.'s Atthanagalla constituency during the 1952 parliamentary election, while he travelled around the country to garner support. Though the Freedom Party won only nine seats during that election, S.W.R.D. won his seat in Parliament and became Leader of the Opposition.

When fresh elections were called in 1956 by Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala, S.W.R.D. sensed an opportunity and formed a broad four-party coalition Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), contesting the 1956 elections. Bandaranaike once again campaigned for her husband in Atthanagalla, in her home town of Balangoda, and in Ratnapura for the Freedom Party. The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna won a landslide victory and S.W.R.D. formed a government as its Prime Minister. While on a state visit to Malaysia on its Independence in 1957, the couple had to cut short their stay when they received news that Bandaranaike's father was gravely ill following a heart attack. He died two weeks after their hasty return.

All three of Bandarnaike's children were educated abroad. Sunetra studied at Oxford, Chandrika at the University of Paris, and Anura at the University of London. All would later return and serve in Sri Lanka's governance. Bandaranaike was at home in Rosmead Place on the morning of 25 September 1959, when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was shot multiple times by a Buddhist monk, disgruntled over lack of support for traditional medicine. Bandaranaike accompanied her husband to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds the following day. In the political chaos that followed under the caretaker government of Wijeyananda Dahanayake, many cabinet ministers were removed, and some were arrested and tried for the assassination. The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna coalition collapsed without S.W.R.D.'s influence, and elections were called for March 1960 to fill the seat for the Attanagalle constituency. Bandaranaike reluctantly agreed to run as an independent candidate, but before the election could be held, Parliament was dissolved and she decided not to contest the seat. When the election was held in March 1960, the United National Party won a four-seat majority over the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Dudley Senanayake, the new Prime Minister, was defeated within a month in a vote of confidence and a second general election was called for July 1960.

Political career

In May 1960, Bandaranaike was unanimously selected as the President of the Freedom Party, although at the time she was still undecided about running in the July election. Disavowing former party ties with Communists and Trotskyists, by early June she was campaigning with promises to carry forward the policies of her late husband – in particular, establishing a republic, enacting a law to establish Sinhalese as the official language of the country, and demonstrating tolerance for the estate Tamils. The majority of the Tamils had been brought to Ceylon from India by the British colonisers as plantation workers. Many Ceylonese viewed them as temporary immigrants, even though they had lived for generations in Ceylon. With Ceylon's independence, the Citizenship Act of 1948 excluded the Tamils from citizenship, making them stateless. S.W.R.D.'s policy toward the stateless Tamils had been moderate, granting some citizenship and allowing productive workers to remain. His successor, Dudley Senanayake, was the first to recommend compulsory repatriation for the population. Bandaranaike toured the country and made emotional speeches, frequently bursting into tears as she pledged herself to continue her late husband's policies. Her actions earned her the title "The Weeping Widow" from her opponents.

First female Prime Minister (1960–1965)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Praying Premier, AP Wirephoto, 1962

On 21 July 1960, following a landslide victory of the Freedom Party, Bandaranaike took oaths as the first female Prime Minister in the world, as well as Minister of Defence and External Affairs. As she was not an elected member of parliament at the time, but leader of the party holding the majority in parliament, the constitution required her to become a member of Parliament within three months if she was to continue holding office as Prime Minister. To make a place for her, Manameldura Piyadasa de Zoysa resigned his seat in the Senate. On 5 August 1960, Governor General Goonetilleke appointed Bandaranaike to the Senate of Ceylon, the upper house of Parliament. Initially, she struggled to navigate the issues facing the country, relying on her cabinet member and nephew, Felix Dias Bandaranaike. Opponents derisively dismissed her with sexist comments about her "kitchen cabinet".

To further her husband's policies of nationalizing key sectors of the economy, Bandaranaike established a corporation with public-private shareholders, taking control of seven newspapers. She nationalized banking, foreign trade, and insurance, as well as the petroleum industry. In taking over the Bank of Ceylon and establishing branches of the newly created People's Bank, Bandaranaike aimed to provide services to communities with no previous banking facilities, spurring local business development. Following a Socialist platform, her policies aimed to eliminate barriers to equal access by making the government more representative of – and responsive to – those it governed. In December 1960, Bandaranaike nationalized all the parochial schools that were receiving state funding. Since the predominantly Catholic, Christian minority were the economic and political elite, the move alienated Catholics while extending Buddhist influence. In January 1961, Bandaranaike implemented a law making Singhalese the official language, replacing English. This action caused wide discontent among the more than two million Tamil-speakers. Urged on by members of the Federal Party, a campaign of civil disobedience began in the provinces with Tamil majorities. Bandaranaike's response was to declare a state of emergency and send in troops to restore peace. Beginning in 1961, trade unions began a series of strikes in protest to high inflation and taxes. One such strike immobilized the transport system, motivating Bandaranaike to nationalize the transport board.

In January 1962, conflicts erupted between the established elites: the predominantly right-wing Westernized urban Christians – including large contingents of Burghers and Tamils – and the emerging native elite, who were predominantly leftist Sinhala-speaking Buddhists. The changes caused by Bandaranaike's policies created an immediate shift away from the Anglophilic class system, power structures, and governance, significantly influencing the composition of the officer corps of the civil service, armed forces, and the police. Conspirators from the officer corps plotted a military coup d'état, which included plans to detain Bandaranaike and her cabinet members at the Army Headquarters. When the police official Stanley Senanayake was taken into the confidence of the coup leadership, he rushed to Temple Trees to inform Bandaranaike and other government and party officials. Immediately calling all service commanders and junior officers to an emergency meeting at the official residence, Felix Dias Bandaranaike and members of Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) began questioning the military personnel and uncovered the plot in full. Because the coup was aborted before it began, the trial process for the 24 accused conspirators was lengthy and complex. The retroactive Criminal Law Special Provision Act of 1962, which allowed consideration of hearsay evidence, was passed to aid in the conviction of the plotters. Though rumours circulated against Sir Oliver Goonatillake, the governor general, there was no real evidence against him and therefore no means of prosecuting him. He was neither "removed from office nor did he resign". He agreed to answer questions about his suspected involvement once he was replaced. In February William Gopallawa was appointed Governor General and Goonatillake was escorted to the airport, left Ceylon, and went into voluntary exile.

In an attempt to balance East-West interests and maintain neutrality, Bandaranaike strengthened the country's relationship with China, while eliminating ties with Israel. She worked to maintain good relationships with both India and Russia, while keeping ties to British interests through the export of tea and supporting links with the World Bank. Condemning South Africa's apartheid policy, Bandaranaike appointed ambassadors and sought relationships with other African nations. In 1961, she attended both the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London and the Conference on Non-Aligned Nations in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She was a key player in reducing tensions between India and China after their 1962 border dispute erupted into the Sino-Indian War. In November and December of that year, Bandaranaike called conferences in Colombo with delegates from Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Ghana and the United Arab Republic to discuss the dispute. She then travelled with Ghanaian Justice Minister Kofi Ofori-Atta to India and Peking, China in an attempt to broker peace. In January 1963, Bandaranaike and Orofi-Atta were rewarded in New Delhi, when Prime Minister Nehru agreed to make a motion in the Indian Parliament recommending favour for the proposed settlement.

At home, difficulties were mounting. Despite her success abroad, Bandaranaike was criticized for her ties with China and lack of economic development policies. Tensions were still high over the government's apparent favouritism of Sinhala-speaking Ceylonese Buddhists. The import-export imbalance, compounded by inflation, was impacting the buying power of middle- and lower-class citizens. In the mid-year by-election, although Bandaranaike held a majority, the United National Party made gains, indicating that her support was slipping. Lack of support for austerity measures, specifically the inability to import adequate rice – the main dietary staple – caused the resignation of Minister Felix Dias Bandaranaike. Other cabinet ministers were reassigned in an attempt to stem the drift toward Soviet trade partnerships, which had gained ground after the creation of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. The Petroleum Corporation had been launched in 1961 to bypass the monopolistic pricing imposed on Middle Eastern oil imports, allowing Ceylon to import oil from the United Arab Republic and the Soviet Union. Some of the storage facilities of western oil operatives were co-opted with a compensation agreement, but continuing disputes over non-payment resulted in suspension of foreign aid from the United States in February 1963. In reaction to the suspension of aid, the Parliament passed the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Amendment Act nationalizing all distribution, import-export, sales and supply of most oil products in the country, from January 1964.

Also in 1964, Bandaranaike's government abolished the independent Ceylon Civil Service and replaced it with the Ceylon Administrative Service, which was subject to the influence of government politicians. When the United Left Front coalition between the Communist, Revolutionary Socialist and Trotskyist Parties was formed in late 1963, Bandaranaike moved left to try to gain their support. In February 1964, Chinese Premier Chou En-lai visited Bandaranaike in Ceylon with offers of aid, gifts of rice and textiles, and discussions to extend trade. The two also discussed the Sino-Indian border dispute and nuclear disarmament. The ties with China were attractive, as Bandaranaike's recent formal recognition of East Germany had eliminated incoming aid from West Germany and her nationalization of the insurance industry had impacted her relationships with Australia, Britain and Canada. In preparation for the second Non-Aligned Conference, Bandaranaike hosted Presidents Tito and Nassar in Colombo in March 1964, but the continued domestic unrest caused her to suspend parliamentary sessions until July. In the interim, she entered into a coalition with the United Left Front and was able to shore up her majority, though only by a margin of three seats.

In September 1964, Bandaranaike led a delegation to India to discuss the repatriation of the 975,000 stateless Tamils residing in Ceylon. Meeting with Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, they ironed out the terms of the Srimavo-Shastri Pact, a landmark agreement for the foreign policy of both nations. Under the agreement, Ceylon was to grant citizenship to 300,000 of the Tamils and their descendants while India was to repatriate 525,000 stateless Tamils. During the 15 years allotted to complete their obligations, the parties agreed to negotiate terms for the remaining 150,000. In October, Bandaranaike attended and co-sponsored the Non-Aligned Conference held in Cairo. In December 1964, her attempt to further nationalize the country's newspapers resulted in a campaign to remove her from office. She lost a vote of confidence by one vote, dissolved the Parliament, and called for new elections. Her political coalition was defeated in the 1965 elections, ending her first term as Prime Minister.

Leader of the opposition (1965–1970)

In the 1965 elections, Bandaranaike won a seat in the House of Representatives. With her party gaining 41 seats, she became the Leader of the Opposition, the first woman ever to hold the post. Dudley Senanayake was sworn in as Prime Minister on 25 March 1965. Soon after, Bandaranaike's position as a member of parliament was challenged, when allegations were made that she had accepted a bribe, in the form of a car, while in office. A committee was appointed to investigate and she was later cleared of the charge. During her five year term in the opposition, she maintained the alliance with leftist party groups, steadily gaining ground. Of the seven by-elections held between November 1966 and April 1967, six were won by the opposition, under Bandaranaike's leadership. Continued inflation, trade imbalance, unemployment, and the failure of expected foreign aid to materialize led to widespread discontent. This was further fuelled by austerity measures, which reduced the weekly rice stipend. By 1969, Bandaranaike was actively campaigning to return to power. Among other pledges, she promised to nationalize foreign banks and the import-export industry, to establish watchgroups for monitoring business and government corruption, to return to a foreign policy which leaned away from "imperialist" partners, and to hold a Constituent Assembly charged with drafting a new Constitution,

Second term (1970–1977)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike with Soviet Union Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin, Senior Advisor (Foreign Affairs) to the Prime Minister Tissa Wijeyeratne and her son Anura Bandaranaike

Bandaranaike regained power after the United Front coalition between the Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party and her own Freedom Party won the 1970 elections with a large majority in May 1970. By July, she had convened a Constitutional Assembly to replace the British-drafted constitution with one drafted by the Ceylonese. She introduced innovations requiring that permanent secretaries in the government ministries have expertise in their division. For example, those serving in the Ministry of Housing should be trained engineers and those serving in the Ministry of Health, medical practitioners. All government employees were allowed to join Workers Councils and at the local level, she established People's Committees to allow input from the population at large on government administration. The changes were intended to remove elements of British colonization and foreign influences from the country's institutions.

Facing budget deficits of $195 million – caused by rising energy and food-importation costs and declining revenue from coconut, rubber and tea exports – Bandaranaike attempted to centralize the economy and implement price controls. Pressed by the leftist members of her coalition to nationalize the foreign banks of British, Indian and Pakistani origin, she realized that doing so would impact the need for credit. As she had in her previous regime, she tried to balance the flow of foreign assistance from both capitalist and communist partners. In September 1970, Bandaranaike attended the third Non-Aligned Conference in Lusaka, Zambia. That month, she also travelled to Paris and London to discuss international trade. Ordering representatives of The Asia Foundation and the Peace Corps to leave the country, Bandaranaike began re-evaluating trade agreements and proposals that had been negotiated by her predecessor. She announced that her government would not recognize Israel, until the country peacefully settled its problem with its Arab neighbours. She officially granted recognition to East Germany, North Korea, North Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. Bandaranaike opposed the development of an Anglo-US communications centre in the Indian Ocean, maintaining that the area should be a "neutral, nuclear-free zone". In December, the Business Undertaking Acquisition Act was passed, allowing the state to nationalize any business with more than 100 employees. Ostensibly, the move aimed to reduce foreign control of key tea and rubber production, but the backlash was that it stunted both domestic and foreign investment in industry and development.

Despite the efforts to address the country's problems, unemployment and inflation remained unchecked. After just 16 months in power, Bandaranaike's government was almost toppled by the 1971 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Insurrection of left-wing youths. Though aware of the militant stance of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) – which held that the Socialist Revolution was not happening quickly enough – Bandaranaike's administration initially failed to recognize the imminent threat, dismissing the radicals as idealists. On 6 March, militants attacked the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency on 17 March. In early April, attacks on police stations evidenced a well-planned insurgency which Ceylon's small army was ill-equipped to handle. Calling on allies, the government was saved largely because of Bandaranaike's neutral foreign policy. To assist in the crisis, aircraft were sent by Russia; arms and equipment came from Britain, the United Arab Republic, the United States and Yugoslavia; medical supplies were provided by East and West Germany, Norway and Poland; patrol boats were sent from India; and both India and Pakistan sent troops. On 1 May, Bandaranaike suspended government offensives and offered an amnesty, which resulted in thousands of surrenders. The following month a second amnesty was offered. Establishing the National Committee of Reconstruction to re-establish civil authority and provide a strategic plan for dealing with those captured or surrendered insurgents, one of the first actions was to expel North Korean diplomats, as she suspected they had fomented the radical discontent. Upon proving that she had become a "formidable political force", the saying "She was the only man in her cabinet" – attributed to her political opponents in the 1960s – resurfaced during the height of the insurgency.

In May 1972, the Dominion of Ceylon was replaced by the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the new Constitution was ratified. Under its terms, the Senate, suspended since 1971, was officially abolished and the new unicameral National State Assembly was created, combining the powers of the executive, judicial and legislative branches in one authority. The constitution recognized the supremacy of Buddhism, though it guaranteed equal protection to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. It failed to provide a charter of inalienable rights, recognized Sinhalese as the only official language, and contained no "elements of federalism". The new constitution also extended Bandaranaike's term by two years, resetting the mandated five-year term of the Prime Minister to the coincide with the creation of the republic. These limits caused concern for various sectors of the population, specifically those who were uneasy about authoritarian rule, and the Tamil-speaking population. Before the month was out, the discontent escalated before leading to the passage of the Justices Commission Bill, establishing separate tribunals to deal with the imprisoned insurgents from the previous year. Those in opposition to the tribunals argued that they were a violation of the principals of human rights. By July, sporadic incidents of violence were resurfacing, and by the end of the year, a second wave of revolt was anticipated. Widespread unemployment fuelled the public's growing disillusionment with the government, in spite of land redistribution programmes enacted to establish farming cooperatives and limit the size of privately held lands.

The 1973 oil crisis had a traumatic effect on the Sri Lankan economy. Still dependent on foreign assistance, goods and monetary aid from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Hungary, and the World Bank, Bandaranaike eased the austerity programmes that limited importation of consumer goods. The United States terminated aid grants, which required no repayment, and changed to a policy of providing foreign loans. Devaluation of the Sri Lankan currency, coupled with inflation and high taxes, slowed economic growth, consequently creating cyclical pressure to address deficits with even higher taxes and austerity measures. Uncontrolled inflation between 1973 and 1974 led to economic uncertainty and public dissatisfaction. In 1974, Bandaranaike forced the shut-down of the last independent newspaper group, The Sun, believing their criticism was fuelling unrest. Fissures appeared in the United Front coalition, largely resulting from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party's continued influence on trade unions and threats of strike actions throughout 1974 and 1975. When newly confiscated estates were placed under the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, controlled by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, fears that they would unionize plantation workers led Bandaranaike to oust them from the government coalition.

With International Women's Year bringing women to the spotlight in 1975, Bandaranaike created an agency to focus on their issues, which would later become the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. She appointed the first woman to serve in the Sri Lankan Cabinet, Siva Obeyesekere, first as First State Secretary for Health and later as Minister of Health. She was feted at the UN World Conference on Women hosted in Mexico City, attending as the only woman Prime Minister elected in her own right. Bandaranaike stepped into the one-year term of chair at the 5th Conference of the Non-Aligned Nations in 1976, hosting the meeting in Colombo. Despite her high regard internationally, she continued to struggle domestically under allegations of corruption and nepotism, while the economy continued to decline. In their struggle for recognition, Tamil discontent turned to separatism. In May 1976, the Vaddukoddai Resolution was adopted by the Tamil United Liberation Front, calling for independent statehood and sovereign autonomy. In the 1977 general elections, the United Front was soundly defeated, winning only six seats.

Party leader (1977–1988)

Bandaranaike retained her parliamentary seat in Atthanagalla in the 1977 general elections. In November 1977, a petition challenging her position as a member of parliament was dismissed. In 1978, a new constitution was ratified which replaced the British-style parliamentary system with a French-style presidential system. Under the constitution, the executive or President, was elected by a vote of the people to serve a six-year term. The president then chose a Prime Minister to preside over the Cabinet, who was confirmed by the legislature. Providing a declaration of fundamental rights, guaranteeing the equality of citizens for the first time, it also recognized Tamil as a national language, though the administrative language remained Sinhala. Though aimed at appeasing Tamil separatists, the provisions did not stop the violence between Tamils and Sinhalese, resulting in the passage of the 1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act.

In 1980, a Special Presidential Commission was appointed by President J. R. Jayawardene to investigate allegations against Bandaranaike for abuses of power during her tenure as Prime Minister. Following the submission of the report to Jayawardene, the United National Party government adopted a motion in parliament on 16 October 1980 to strip Bandaranaike and her nephew, Felix Dias Bandaranaike – who was convicted of corruption – of their civil liberties for a period of seven years. She was expelled from parliament, but maintained her role as party leader. The motion passed by 139 votes in favour and 18 against, easily meeting the required two-thirds threshold. Despite being its head, Bandaranaike was unable to campaign for the Freedom Party. As a result, her son, Anura served as the parliamentary party leader. Under Anura the Freedom Party moved to the right, and Bandaranaike's daughter, Chandrika, withdrew, forming the Sri Lanka People's Party with her husband, Vijaya Kumaranatunga. In their new party, the main goals aimed at rapprochement with the Tamils.

From 1980, conflict became more frequent and increasingly violent. During local election campaigning in 1981, Tamil extremists assassinated Arumugam Thiagarajah, the United National Party candidate. Boycotting the 1982 presidential elections, separatists, now known as the Tamil Tigers, began a series of riots in 1983 aimed at destabilizing the government and attaining an independent Tamil state. Jayewardene's move towards free markets and a focus on economic growth hurt Tamil farmers in the north by removing trade protections. Similarly, the policies negatively impacted not only southern Sinhalese businesses facing competition from Indian markets, but also the urban poor, whose food subsidies were greatly reduced. Massive government spending for economic development created budget deficits and inflation, alarming the World Bank and International Monetary Fund administrators. In turn, donor agencies reduced aid to persuade the government to control spending. Acceleration of the Mahaweli Development programme increased employment and stabilized the food supply, also reducing dependence on foreign energy supplies with the completion of four hydropower-generating facilities. The focus on building the economy and infrastructure failed to address social issues. For example, the rural housing initiative – which built some 100,000 new homes by 1984 – polarized communities because housing was distributed by political alliance rather than need. Privatization of industry, after 1982, created significant gaps between the rich and poor and inflation returned, making goods hard to procure and lowering the standard of living.

In January 1986, Bandaranaike's civil rights were restored by a presidential decree issued by President Jayewardene. The conflicts which had been escalating since 1983, emerged in 1987 into Civil War. Jayewardene showed little sympathy for the issues of concern to the Tamils and instead blamed the unrest on left-wing factions plotting a government overthrow. Breakdowns in negotiations with the rebels eventually led Jayewardene to authorize the intervention of the Indian Government into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. Signed in 1987, The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, laid out terms of the truce between the Sri Lankan Government and the rebels, authorizing the Indian Peace Keeping Force to occupy the country in an attempt to promote disarmament. Bandaranaike and the Freedom Party opposed the introduction of Indian troops, believing the government had betrayed its own people by allowing India to intervene on behalf of the Tamils. As a reaction to state-sanctioned violence and their desire for nationalist focus, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna militants re-emerged in the south. Into this backdrop, Bandaranaike decided to run in the 1988 presidential election. She was narrowly defeated by Ranasinghe Premadasa who succeeded Jayewardene as President.

Leader of the opposition (1989–1994)

Hon. Sirimavo Bandaranaike

On 6 February 1989, while campaigning for the Freedom Party in the 1989 general election, Bandaranaike survived a bombing attack. Though she was unscathed, one of her aides suffered leg injuries. In the final results on the 19th, the Freedom Party was defeated by the United National Party under Ranasinghe Premadasa, but gained 67 seats, sufficient for Bandaranaike to take up the post of Leader of the Opposition for a second term. She was successfully re-elected to parliament in the Gampaha electoral district. The same year, the government crushed the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna rebels, killing some 30,000 to 70,000 of them, rather than opting for trials or imprisonment as Bandaranaike had done in 1971. In 1990, when the 13-month ceasefire was broken by insurgents, the government decided to break off negotiations with the Tamils and employ a military solution. Anura supported the move, but his mother, Bandaranaike, spoke against the plan. When emergency powers were granted, she demanded that they be lifted. During her tenure as opposition leader, she supported the impeachment of Premadasa in 1991, which was led by senior United National Party members such as Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake. The impeachment failed, as Premadasa adjourned Parliament and the Speaker M. H. Mohamed dismissed the impeachment, stating there were inadequate signatures. Bandaranaike's daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga, who had been living in self-imposed exile in London since 1988, when her husband was assassinated, returned to Sri Lanka and rejoined the Freedom Party in 1991. Also in 1991, Bandaranaike, who was increasingly impaired by arthritis, suffered a stroke.

In 1992, Premadasa Udugampola, head of the Bureau of Special Operations, was forced to retire after an international outcry over human rights abuse surfaced. Udugampola provided a written statement that the death squads used against rebels had been backed by the government, and Bandaranaike came out in support of his evidence, but Udugampola was charged for cultivating public hostility against the government. When President Premadasa was assassinated by a suicide bomber on 1 May 1993, his Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga was nominated to complete the president's unexpired term until 2 January 1995. Due to her failing health, Bandaranaike continued as opposition leader, and Wijetunga ran unopposed. Wijetunga convinced Bandaranaike's son, Anura, to defect to the United National Party and rewarded him with an appointment as Minister of Higher Education. His defection left Bandaranaike and Kumaratunga in charge of the Freedom Party. With her mother's declining health, it was Kumaratunga who led the formation of a new coalition, the People's Alliance (PA) to challenge in the Western Province of Sri Lanka in May. The alliance won and Kumaratunga was appointed as the Chief Minister in 1993 in a landslide election victory. Subsequently the coalition led by Kumaratunga won the southern provincial council elections, giving the Freedom Party hope for the national elections. Running on a ticket of change, Kumaratunga travelled through the country campaigning for the 1994 parliamentary election, as her mother was recovering from surgery. The People's Alliance won a decisive victory, and Bandaranaike announced that Kumaratunga would become Prime Minister. By this time her daughter had also succeeded her as the leader of the Freedom Party, as Bandaranaike was unable to campaign. Mentally alert but suffering from a foot ailment and complications from diabetes, she was confined to a wheel chair. Having been re-elected to parliament, Bandaranaike was appointed to her daughter's cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio at the swearing-in ceremony held on 19 August 1994.

Third term (1994–2000)

In the presidential election that followed in November, Kumaratunga's main political rival, Gamini Dissanayake, was assassinated two weeks before the election. His widow, Srima Dissanayake, was chosen to run for the United National Party. With Kumaratunga's lead predicted to be around a million votes even before the assassination, she won by a wide margin, increasing the People's Alliance support. Becoming the first female President of Sri Lanka, Kumaratunga appointed her mother as prime minister, which under the terms of the 1978 constitution meant Bandaranaike was responsible for defence and foreign affairs. Though the office of prime minister had become mainly a ceremonial post, Bandaranaike's influence in the Freedom Party remained strong. While they agreed on policy, Kumaratunga and Bandaranaike differed on leadership style. By 2000, Kumaratunga wanted a younger prime minister and Bandaranaike, citing health reasons, stepped down in August 2000.

Death and legacy

Bandaranaike Samadhi (where S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike were entombed) at Horagolla, Sri Lanka

Bandaranaike died on 10 October 2000 of a heart attack at Kadawatha, as she was heading home to Colombo. She had been casting her vote in the parliamentary election, which had been held that day. Sri Lanka declared two days of national mourning, and state radio stations abandoned their regular programming to play funereal laments. Bandaranaike's remains lay in state in the parliament, and her funeral subsequently took place at Horagolla where she was interned in the mausoleum, Horagolla Bandaranaike Samadhi, originally built for her husband.

At a time when there were few options open to women beyond the conventional role of wife and mother, she helped raise the global perception of women's capabilities. In addition to her own contributions to Sri Lanka, her children became involved in the development of the country. Sunethra worked as her mother's political secretary in the 1970s and later became a noted philanthropist. Chandrika, became the first woman to be elected President of Sri Lanka and Anura, who was first elected to parliament in 1977, served in various cabinet positions and was elected as Speaker of the Parliament in 2000. During her three terms in office, Bandaranaike led the country to break free of its colonial past, forming a republic. Implementing socialist policies during the Cold War, she attempted to nationalize key sectors of the economy and undertake land reforms to benefit the native population, desiring to end the political favouratism enjoyed by the Western-educated elites. Her failure to address adequately the needs of the Tamil population led to decades of strife and violence in the country. As one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, Bandaranaike navigated the divided world stage and successfully brought Sri Lanka to prominence among those nations which strove to remain neutral to the influence of the superpowers.

In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of Bandaranaike's election as the world's first female prime minister, former president Chandrika Kumarathunga criticized the Sri Lankan government for failing to recognize her mother's legacy. Rosy Senanayake, an opposition MP, told the press that gender equality in Sri Lankan politics had not made significant strides, despite Bandaranaike's early rise to power; only 4.5 per cent of parliamentarians were women. Senanayake had earlier called for a "special quota" to achieve better gender representation. By 2017, only 5.7 per cent of parliamentary positions and 1.9 per cent of local offices were held by women. A 2016 bill was passed that reserved 25 per cent of all local electoral seats for women, with the additional aim of making it more feasible for women to run for higher political positions. In February 2018, local elections saw a record-breaking 17,000 women run for office across the country.

See also

Ancestors of Sirimavo Bandaranaike

16. Paranagama 8. Paranagama Loku Mudiyanse 17. 4. Abeyratne Banda Ratwatte Basnayake 18. Seneviratne Nilame Ratwatte 9. Punchi Menika Ratwatte Kumarihamy 19. Amunugama Meegastenne Medduma Kumarihamy 2. Barnes Ratwatte 20. 10. 21. 5. Thalgahagoda Lewke Punchi Kumarihamy 22. 11. 23. 1. Sirimavo Bandaranaike 24. 12. 25. 6. S. D. Mahawalatenne 26. 13. 27. 3. Rosalind Hilda Mahawalatenne Kumarihamy 28. 14. 29. 7. 30. 15. 31.

• List of political families in Sri Lanka
• Bandaranaike family

References

Bibliography

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External links

• The Ratwatte Ancestry
• The Bandaranaike Ancestry