10th August 1997

Next in succession

In August 1952, the Trine, a weekly news sheet published in serial form a document entitled "Premier Stakes 1952". The two contenders in the race were the gentle and retiring Dudley Senanayake who had been pushed into the fray willy nilly, and the forthright Sir John Kotelawala, the Leader of the House at the time who, relying on the provisions in the Constitution and convention, expected the Governor General Lord Soulbury to call upon him to form the government in succession to the late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake. Senanayake had passed away on 22nd, March 1952 after falling off his horse during his morning ride on Galle Face Green.

The situation that arose then, in regard to the succession was perhaps not second to that which occurred seven years later when Prime Minister Bandaranaike was assassinated, though of a different genre.

Back door intrigue as regards Senanayake's successor had commenced earlier when Bandaranaike was in Senanayake's Cabinet when he was considered unquestionably to be the next in succession.

In addition to the policy differences that existed between the two at the time, this intrigue was the last straw that broke the camel's back and made Bandaranaike to resign from the UNP in disgust, and go on to lead the SLFP. Had Bandaranaike not been hasty, the history of this country would have been different.

Bandaranaike was over anxious to be Prime Minister so that he could implement the policies which he had planned for the progress of the country, for he keenly felt that the old brigade was not moving fast enough.

A believable story in this connection was related to me by his brother-in-law, the late Abraham Livera.

Bandaranaike, thinking that Senanayake was grooming Kotelawala as his successor, had met Sir John and said, "Lionel, my father is very old and is keen to see me as Prime Minister before he dies. You are a younger man and can afford to stand down." Sir John's response had been: "My mother too is old and would be very happy if she could see me as Prime Minister before she dies."

Whether the story is apocryphal or not, it savours of a likely scenario. This sparring between the two hopeful combatants was "actually as a matter of fact", utterly sterile as well as futile, as the real protagonist had not yet openly entered the ring, for Senanayake per se had other intentions.

His intention was to create a succession of Senanayake Prime Ministers, or at least better the parallel of the Pitt father and son Prime Ministers in England where the son succeeded the father after an interval, while here, the son would be in immediate succession. The facade he created that he was grooming Kotelawala against Bandaranaike with whom he had serious policy differences, was really a red herring drawn across the trail. Had Bandaranaike had half the patience of the Old Fox, he would have succeeded Senanayake as Prime Minister in 1952. In the event, he would have rued the day that he resigned from the UNP.

His impatience was however not without reason. He was perhaps the only member of the government who recognised the existence of a political undertow that was threatening to engulf them all. He realised that events were moving fast; that the government should not allow events to overtake them; that they should grasp time by the forelock and shape and direct the incipient forces that posed a threat to the country's stability. The quintuple rural mass force, the Buddhist clergy, the vedamahatmayas, the Registrar Ralahamies, the vernacular school teachers and the long supressed volcano of Sinhala Buddhist deprivations through centuries of foreign domination, was already on the brink of explosion. In fact it was too late even when he tried to do so when the mantle of leadership fell on him later and the national tragedy which is being enacted even today, ensued.

Lord Soulbury who was away from the island at the time Senanayake died, had left instructions with his locum tenens Sir Allen Rose that in the event of the office of Prime Minister falling vacant, no action should be taken by him but that he (Lord Soulbury) should be sent for, as the late Prime Minister had suggested to him that he should call upon Dudley Senanayake to form the government as he had no doubt that Lord Soulbury would find that he had the backing of the majority in Parliament.This was announced by Sir Allen at a meeting of Ministers he had summoned. The fat was in the fire. There was consternation all round. Sir Allen's proposal to issue a press notice to this effect was shot down by Sir John, but an amended one omitting that part which gave the dead Prime Minister's suggestion, was issued.

At an informal Cabinet meeting that followed Sir John suggested that a general election be held immediately. He knew that he would be leading the Party and that the result was a foregone conclusion for the UNP's record up to that time had been clean and there was no opposition party of any stature that could put up a fight or marshal the forces of incipient national and religious discontent.

The SLFP was still in its infancy and far from being in an organised state; moreover there was islandwide sympathy for the late leader and the country was likely to back the Party which he had formed and led. Sir John reckoned that when this happened and the Party was returned to power, Lord Soulbury would have no option but to call upon him to form the Government, the late Prime Minister's suggestion to him not withstanding.

But the battle lines within the Cabinet, the party and in fact in the country itself had already been drawn. The split was clear, Sir John vs. Dudley.

According to the Trine monograph, while A. Ratnayake and Henry Amarasuriya had supported Sir John, and Eddie Nugawela, M.D. Banda and Dudley himself had nothing to say, G.G. Ponnambalam's reference to "young blood" clearly indicated where his sympathies lay. Sittampalam, the former Civil Service bureaucrat insisted that the Governor General should stick to the code and call upon the Senior Vice President of the Party and the Leader of the House, Sir John to form the Government. JR foxy as always, played it both ways saying that unity must be preserved at all costs and that whoever was selected, everyone should back that person.

The Trine records that Sir Oliver had earlier told Sir John: "Lionel, the Old Man has played you out, me too." What Sir Oliver meant by this remark is made sense of in an Editorial of the "People's Voice" of the time which stated in effect that the strategem of Senanayake per se was to appoint Dudley Senanayake as Minister of Agriculture, and when the vacancy for the post of Prime Minister came round, in order to avoid the charge of nepotism if Dudley was appointed to succeed him immediately, Sir Francis Molamure was to succeed for a sort of Regency period and then give way to Dudley. It was to be all so familiar and friendly. When Sir Francis died, this plan misfired and it was next arranged to obtain a safe seat for Sir Oliver in Ja-ela or in the pocket borough of Buttala and for him to be made Prime Minister till Dudley was ready to step in.

The contents of this Editorial can be considered as being more imaginative than factual. It was unfair by the elder Senanayake. It could not be said of him that he would intrigue to this extent to ensure Dudley's succession.

The intrigue continued. For his part, Sir John in his forthright way invited Dudley to dinner at Horton Lodge, his mother's residence and indicated to Dudley where his duty lay.

The Trine records that Dudley had given Sir John a solemn undertaking that he would not accept the Premiership. This news upset the king makers. They re-marshalled their forces and commenced an anti Kotelawala campaign into which the Lake House and part of the London Press too entered, requesting Lord Soulbury who was then returning to the Island to call upon Dudley to form the Government.

There was much coming and going between Woodlands and Kandawala and many parties with axes to grind and plans to put in place, intervened. A delegation from the Ceylon Workers Congress whose chief was Thondaman had arrived in Kandawala and promised their support if he agreed to give citizenship rights to the Indian community in Ceylon. The Trine records that Sir John gave short shrift to the delegation. "If you had made this offer anywhere else except under my roof I would have beaten you within an inch of your life. Your low standard has brought you to the wrong person. How dare you think that for all the world, for any price whatever I would ever dream of betraying my country." The delegation had fled in disarray. Sir John was acting in keeping with his family motto: "Always for my country."

Lord Soulbury acting on the suggestion of his friend, the dead Prime Minister, finding that Dudley had the backing of the majority of back benchers, called upon Dudley to form the Government.

So ended a week of events which changed the course of the country's history. Dudley, sincere as always, called for an early election as he wished to test the wishes of the voters, and was returned with a decisive majority.

The story of the Premier Stakes does not end here. The denouement was still to come. Sir John was both hurt and angry that people whom he thought were his friends had let him down, and that at a time when he was facing the greatest crisis in his political life. At first he refused to serve in Dudley's Cabinet but at the latter's earnest request he agreed, after Dudley had reassured him that the reason for his accepting the Premiership was not that he considered that he was more suitable than Sir John, but that weightier reasons urged upon him by people that mattered had led him to do so.

The appearance of the "Premier Stakes 1952" in the Trine in August 1952, caused a countrywide furore and even overwhelmed the Cabinet. It was widely bruited that the author of the document, of which several copies were already in private circulation, was none other than Sir John.

The exposures made therein about some members of the Cabinet were such that Sir John could not be permitted to continue as a member, and Dudley was advised accordingly. Sir John was away on official business in the United States at the time. He was summoned back and his explanation was called for. A Cabinet crisis of a major nature was brewing.

That ace negotiator and diplomat Sir Oliver took a hand in matters at this stage. He formulated an explanation which, extraordinary as it was in the face of publicly known facts, Sir John surprisingly agreed to publish and more surprisingly was accepted by Dudley.

The communique published by Sir John as Minister of Transport and Works was as follows: "I returned to the island today in order to discuss with the Prime Minister the situation arising from the publication in a newspaper of the document called the "Premier Stakes 1952". I explained to the Prime Minister that I had nothing to do with the publication. I also deny the truth of the statements in the document attributed to me. The Prime Minister accepted my explanation." A very serious crisis in the Government was thus averted.

But J.L. Fernando, a veteran journalist of the time has gone on record as saying that he had in his possession a copy of the "Premier Stakes 1952" duly autographed by Sir John as the author, which page he had torn out and given to Sir John who had shown it to Sir Oliver later, and torn it to shreds.

Thus was suppressed irrefutable proof of the authorship of the "Premier Stakes 1952."

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