Sunday Times 2
C.P. de silva: The prince among Sri Lanka’s politicians
C.P. de Silva: The people called him 'Minneriya Deviyo'
C P De Silva the Minister of agriculture, lands, irrigation, power and Mahaweli development and Leader of the House in all governments from 1956 to 1970, died at a young age of 60 on the 9th of October 1972.
Currently, politicians at all levels and political leaders are distrusted and are under heavy criticism for multiple reasons. Lack of efficiency and honesty by most Public servants today greatly affectthe people who are compelled to seek their assistance.However there was a period, where politicians and government servants were highly respected for their efficiency and empathy with the people. C P De Silva was a prince amongst them all.
Hisdedication, efficiency and ability as a Public servant and later as a politician, was attributed largely to his brilliance as a student and an academic. He won the coveted Gregory Scholarship and Miller award at St Thomas’s for his outstanding performance in Mathematics and Science. He was also appointed the Head Prefect of St Thomas’s in his time. CP graduated with a BSc Special Degree in Mathematics ( 1st class ) from the University College and entered Ceylon Civil Service as a 23 year old in 1935.
Since his demise 47 years ago, several Politicians, journalists and retired Public Servants lauded CP’s long period of service in an inhospitable environment in Rajarata. His insight into the sad plight of the Rajarata peasantry, the deep knowledge he had of the NCP landscape, the courage and resilience with which he fought off the scourge of malaria and his resolve to workwithout basic amenities living in a circuit bungalow,were often highlighted with gratitude. It was rare for a brilliant young man from a middle class background to dedicate his young life for the hapless farmersliving in the thick jungles of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Eight years after he took to politics,CP collapsed after drinking a poisoned glass of milk meant for SWRD Bandaranayake in Cabinet on the 25th August 1959. CP was only 47 years old at that time. The Prime Minister, 60 years young at the time, was shot exactly one month later on the 25thSeptember and died the next day. When Bandaranayake died, his trusted deputy CP, was in England fighting for his life. Upon recovery, his voice was slurred and the family was advised that ill effects of the poisoning would take its toll in about 10 years. Like Bandaranayake, CP De Silva was also,only 60 years old, when he passed away in 1972.
After being dealt with the twin blows, SLFPwas in disarray.The SLFP faced political manoeuvrings by Sir Oliver Goonatillake. TheSLFP Cabinet did not trust the new PM Dahanayake. Dahanayake was named by Bandaranayake to act for him while attending the UN General Assembly end September, since CP was in a UK hospital at the time. A journalist of great repute, DBS Jeyaraj writing to the Daily Mirror on 20. 07. 2019 said “C P De Silva did his best to keep the SLFP together and bring a political renaissance. Given his qualifications and experience, the mantle of leadership should have been rightfully his. He would have indeed been the Prime Minister but for his absence due to illness caused by food poisoning.”
DBS Jeyarajstated that despite his several credentials, several moves were made within the SLFP to have a new leader. The public reason given was that he was not charismatic. The less publicised reason was that despite all the credentials, CP De Silva did not belong to the Govigama caste. He was from the Salagama caste. So desperate were some SLFP leaders, that they even approached Sir John Kotelawala and Dudley Senanayke who politely declined the offer. Except for Ranasinghe Premadasa, all leaders were from the Govigama caste. Therefore sections of the SLFP had reasons to seek a substitute for CP. However, CP established his leadership as there was no possible replacements at that time.Finally, in December 1959,proposed by A P Jayasuriya and Maithreepala Senanayake, CP De Silvawaselected the leader of the SLFP uncontested. TheSecretary of the SLFP was JCW(Jim ) Munasinghe and Asst Secretaries were Dr W R (Dadbidi) De Silva ( Borella ) and M P De Zoysa(Rathgama).C P De Silva thus became the 2nd leader of the SLFP.
Wijayananda Dhanayake the new Prime Minister, was under siege. He had no option but to dissolve parliament and call for an election in March 1960. CP’s main task was to keep the SLFP together and lead the campaign to recapture power. Mrs Bandaranayake kept a low profile during the campaign. SLFP obtained 46 seats and UNP obtained only a 4 seat majority. Sir Oliver refused to appoint CP as the Prime Minister, despite the SLFP successfully electing T B Subasinghe ( MP Katugampola ) as Speaker and defeating the UNP at the next vote in parliament – the Throne speech. The entire opposition appealed to the Governor General to appoint C P De Silva as the Prime Minister as officially informed to Sir Oliver and as shown by the results at the first two votes in Parliament. Instead, Sir Oliver dissolved parliament and called for another election in July 1960.DBS Jeyaraj said “ Sir Oliver revealed his mindset while conversing with the FP leadership by blurting out that he could not allow a non Govigama man to beappointed Prime Minister. The reference obviously was to C P De Silva of the Salagama caste. It was revealed later that Sir Oliver had expressed similar sentiments to LSSP leader Dr N M Perera. Caste dimensions in politics had worked against C P De Silva.” Dr Wijedasa Rajapakshe in his book on C P De Silva, also confirmed that CP was deprived of his due position due to caste bias.
Circumstances leading to the Bandranayake assassination and rumours circulating of an intra party conspiracy saw demoralisation set in. At this point, pragmatic CP realised the urgent necessity to revitalise the party for the July 1960 elections and inspire voters to vote for the SLFP. So CP and other SLFP stalwarts persuaded Sirimavo Bandaranayake to accept the leadership of the party.Unlike present day leaders, CP showed rare qualities in inviting Mrs B to lead the SLFP. He agreed to lead the government in parliament as Mrs B opted not to contest a seat.
Due to his inspirational carrear as an exemplary Public Servant and subsequently aprincipled politician without any allegations or blemish what so ever, C P De Silva is considered a Prince amongst politicianstoday. In this context, it is pertinent to recall how from 1952 to 1956 and as a senior Minister thereafter upto 1970, he travelled to his electorate by train. The GA and other officials used to meet him at the Hingurakgoda railway station and take him on circuit to the most inaccessible areas deep inside the jungle. No government official took the risk of travelling without a one inch map of the area,without a knowledge of the issues affecting the people and without a note book in hand, since the Minister had a personal knowledge of the terrain and an insight into hardships of farmers.
As a young 23 year old Civil Servant, his cadetship was in Jaffna. CP functioned as AGA in Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa for 10 years. In 1946 he became the Asst Land Commissioner and in 1949 Director of Land Development. CP soon became the undisputed hero of the people of Rajarata and was widely acknowledged as the Minneriya Deviyo – an unambiguous honour bestowed on a human being.
In fact, after prematurely resigning from Government Service, he was persuaded into poltics. One year into politics, he easily won the Polonnaruwa seat for the SLFP in 1952. Polonnaruwa included the current Minneriya and Medirigiya seats.He retained for the SLFP the entire Polonnaruwa District from 1952 to 1965 despite it being the heartland of Senanayake’s and the UNP.After leaving the SLFP in 1964, he formed his own party SLFSP registered hurriedly and helped Dudley Senanayake to form a UNP government in 1965.
I reproduce passages from J L Fernando’s book ‘Three Prime Minsters of Ceylon’ and Dr Wijedasa Rajapakshe’s book ‘C P De Silva- Minneriya Deviyo’ andfrom a full page article dated22 April 2012 by the respected former Secretary To President Premadasa and GA Polonnaruwa K H J Wijedasa. They wrote glowingly about the many sacrifices C P De Silva made as apublic servant anda politician despite poor living facilities and his life long contribution to the peasantry in the NCP in particular and to irrigation and the agricultural renaissance in Sri Lanka.
J L Fernando wrote “Despite tribulations of the early months of 1933 and the next year or two, D S Senanayake’s indomitable will to make the dry zone once again full of rice fields, produced successful results. He was battered with criticism in the State Council on the ground that he was wasting money and risking human lives. But long before he died, he had realized his great ambition and the North Central Province-Kalawewa, Minneriya, Giritale, Parakrama Samudra schemes, were covered with green paddy fields, flowing water and colonists schemes.
DS had a willing band of government officials to help him in this magnificent conquest of the dry zone lands. Without being invidious, I must record the name of C P De Silva, now a Cabinet Minister anda critic of D S Senanayake’s political theories, who at that time expended his limitless energy to supervise and expedite the execution of D S Senanayake’s projects in these areas. C P De Silva was then a Government Agent. I remember the first and only occasion I met him when he was engaged in that task in the dry zone. Senanayake who knew that I had been a witness at the ceremonial launching of the Minneriya colonisation scheme took me along with a few others in 1947 to show me the vast progress made. C P De Silva as the senior official on the site joined the inspection party and he and I were lodged in the same Rest House room for the night. I can still recall the torrential flow of words from my roommate till late night and then once again at the crack of dawn. Even while I shavedin the morning and moved to and from the dressing table to a wash basin, C P De Silva was moving with me talking all the time. And all that he talked of every minute was in regard to the colonisation schemes of D S Senanayake in the dry zone. I never met C P De Silva after thatbut I shall always remember the ceaseless talk of an official who was imbibed with the spirit of his chief.
Mr Senanayake’s efforts would have gone awry unless he had the personnel, imbibed at least with a fraction of his enthusiasm to execute his plans. As his chief worker, acting as liaison between headquarters and revenue officers and field supervisors, he found a man who ought to have had an N before the name C P De Silva. For be it daybreak, noon or night, he talks of nothing but the vast possibilities of the NCP.”( pg 31 to 32 )
K H J Wijedsasa, one of the most well respected bureaucratsstated in his article “after serving in Polonnaruwa for 5 years, CP was appointed the Asst Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1939. The story goes that after CP left Polonnaruwa, the Minneriya colonisation scheme was in throes of collapsing. The Marxists mounted a massive campaign against dry zone colonisation. They made a huge fuss about the harsh living conditions. They said mosquitoes in Minneriya were about the size of crows. DS Senanayake knew that only CP could stem the tide and requested him to resume his stewardship of Polonnaruwa District.”
There are two aspects in his article which I thought should be highlighted. He said “one was attracting peasants to the newly developed settlements in the dry zone was not an easy task. First and foremost, such settlements had to be made habitable and free of disease. Secondly, basic infrastructure such as water for drinking and irrigation, housing, schools and hospitals and good agricultural lands for paddy and highland cropping had to be provided. Thirdly, the socio economic developmentof the settlers entailed community leadership and establishing a community network of Co Operativesfor the provision of agricultural credit, agricultural inputs and processing and marketing of produce.”
The other aspect was “CP was responsible for the construction of two fully fledged model schools at Medirigiriya and Polonnaruwa each standing in an expanse of 100 acres. He named them as Royal Colleges. He could have easily obtained cabinet approval to name them as C P De Silva Central College. Infact all national leaders upto Chandrika Kumaranatunga had set an example by resisting the temptation to lend their names to schools, playgrounds, ports, airports, powerhouses and what not.!!”
Mr K H J Wijedasa stated that his upright qualities prompted him to resign from the post of Director Land Development in 1950 over a difference of opinion with his Minister Dudley Senanayake. Even D S Senanayake could not make CP change his mind. He could have remained in the Civil Service and asked for another posting. Instead, he bought a 50 acre private land in Tabbowa and lead a hard life as a farmer. He cultivated rice and kadju. He did not obtain State land on long lease under the middle class land alienation scheme in operation at the time. “CP did not do so as a matter of principle. Later on in 1965, CP constructed a modest house for himself in Minneriya in a block of private land and sent out a strong message to every one vested with power on how not to abuse power.”
Mr Wijedsasa said further “ During his stewardship of the key development sectors Agriculture, Lands, Irrigation and Power, he was able to undertake and successfully complete almost all major irrigation and settlement projects hitherto identified as economically and environmentally feasible. In that respect CP was indeed the ideal successor to D S Senanayake. Incidentally, one of his last acts as Minister in 1970 which indeed was an everlasting contribution to the socio economic development of Sri Lanka was the presenting of the Bill to establish the Mahaweli Development Board.” Galoya, Padaviya and Kantale schemes were already on schedule.
CP was a man of principles who upheld democratic ideals. He practised what he preached. He lived by example as against precept. His honesty and integrity was beyond reproach. No one ever, not even his political opponents, could level any allegation of bribery and corruption or point an accusing finger at him for associating with thugs, criminals and drug pedlars. He was a single minded person with a vision and a mission in life quite opposite of the dual personalities who are enthroned in high office today. He was not ambitious or selfish.He did not chase after fame, position and wealth.”
The latter aspect of his life is shown by CP’s reluctance to be photographed behind the leader like many politicians and hangers-on do. His mission in life was so focussed that it appeared to some that CP lacked aggression or a fight for position. This made some political critics say that he lacked charisma.On the other hand, it was thehonourable character in him that made him decline a grateful DudleySenanayaka’s offer of Premiership to C P De Silva after the 1965 elections.
C P De Silva had a broad perspective of developing the country without limiting it to the confines of his native area. Outside the NCP he served, CP commenced the massive Udawalawe development project in 1969, the sugar plantations in Kantale, Sevanagala, Galoya, Pelawatta with adequate water resovoirs for all.
Dr Wijedsasa Rajapakshe wrote said in his book“ the most historic work of perpetual memory to his credit is his leadership given to the launching of the Mahaweli Project, which is considered one of the biggest undertakings in South Asia. Although many politicians of later times have tried to wrench the credit for launching the Mahaveli project, the undeniable fact remains that it was the brainchild of C P De Silva. It reminds us of the famous saying that success has many fathers while a failure is always a bastard” .
Dr Rajapakshealso wrote “C P De Silva eclipsed all Marxist leaders by enacting the Nindagam Act to abolish the service rendered under compulsion by occupants, Ninda Nilakarayas to Ninda Lords. The impact of the enactment of this law was undoubtedly far reaching and it could be considered the high water mark of a silent revolution. It is this Act that brought the highest ever solace to the down trodden peasantry at the lowest strata. Our people with short memories must concede that this was a subject which even the so called Marxists cum leftists dared to deal with”
With his strong credentials to honesty and principles, quitting Public service or Ministerial portfolios on matters of principle was not alien to his mindset. He quit his position and political power on 3rd December 1964 in defence of freedom of the Press. He faced the prospect of facing a by election. He said in Parliament that he took the decisionto quit- to use his own words “ I desire to live a free man in a free world.” Very few people remember the supreme sacrifice he made to quit his powerful position in the SLFP and go into an uncertain political wilderness, to ensure democratic freedoms we cherish.
Dr Wijedasa Rajapakserecalled “ there had been very few instances where political leaders had quit ministerial portfolios on matters of principle in this country. The first was SWRD Bandaranayake in 1951. Later C P De Silva in 1964. MDH Jayawardena ( Kaduwela )left his Ministry due to the shabby treatment given by J R Jayawardena in early nineteen ninetees. Gamini Jayasuriya ( Homagama ) who hailed from the Hevawitharana Anagarika Dharmapala’s family and who was held in high esteem and a powerful Minister in the J R Jayawardena government quit his post in protest over the Indo Lanka pact in 1987. Last was this writer himself who quit in April 2006 in protest against corruption rampant in the public sector”.
He concluded “ There had been several political leaders who had earned encomiums such as ‘The father of free education’and ‘Father of the nation’ etc. At the same time people also have recognized some leaders below the top rank as heroes calling them as ‘Lions’. But no political leader was recognized as a deity other than C P De Silva. He is venerated even today as the Minneriya Deviyo”.
There is no other in Sri Lanka witheducational distinction,who served the people as a Public servant in the fields of agriculture, lands and irrigation for 17 years and as a politician in the same field for 18 years. He was truly the Minnerya Deviyo and a Prince amongst all politicians.