Bandaranaike Period (1956
AD - 1972 AD)
Bandaranaike and his SLFP
apparently acted as a defender of a besieged Sinhalese
culture, during his rule, the passage of an Official Language
Act - 'Sinhalese only' that would increase the power and job
prospects of Sinhalese, precipitated the antagonism between
Sinhalese and Tamils. In May 1958 when the situation became
intense, nationwide communal riots caused hundreds of deaths which
were mostly of Tamils. This disturbance was the first major
episode of communal violence on the island that left a deep
psychological scar between two ethnic groups. The government
declared the state of emergency and forcibly relocated more than
25,000 Tamil refugees to the Tamil areas in the north.
Bandaranaike was
assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959 and, in the next year, was
replaced by his widow and the succeeding leader of SLFP, Sirimavo,
who then became the world's first female prime minister. She
continued her husband's socialist policies but seriously worsened
the economy. She was defeated in the 1965 election by Dudley
Senanayake but able to regain the power again in the 1970. In
the second time as a prime minister, she again failed to come to
grips with the economic crisis, consequently, in 1971, there was a
poorly organized revolt led by Sinhalese Marxists (mostly
students and young people) under the banner of JVP, the
People's Liberation Army. They were quickly and ruthlessly
eradicated by army resulting in many thousands of deaths. One year
later, the country became a republic and 'Sri Lanka' became
its official name. |
