Farewell Mr. Sampanthan- champion for unity in diversity

With confusing, contradictory and sometimes mysterious announcements about the upcoming elections—we still do not know whether it will be a presidential or parliamentary election—the death of the Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan needs to encourage and inspire other political leaders to act peacefully and calmly to find a just and fair solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis. 
Since independence in 1948 there has been unity in diversity but with the tragic death of the statesman D. S. Senanayake other leaders started using or recklessly misusing the ethnic issue for personal glory or party gain. After the sudden death of D. S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake succeeded his father as the second prime minister, despite apparent reservation by other party frontliners including S.W. R. D. Bandaranaike. In 1953 Dudley Senanayake resigned in the aftermath of the hartal in 1953 and was succeeded by his cousin Sir John Kotelawala. Mr. Bandaranaike played the Sinhala-only card and won the 1956 General election. In alliance with veterans such as Philip Gunawardena to form the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna coalition government the United National Party’s frontliner J. R. Jayewardene tried to outdo Mr. Bandaranaike in an apparent racial politics and promised Sinhala only within 24 hours. The interparty battle went on with mild and calm S. J. V. Chelvanayakam leading the Federal Party’s struggle for regional autonomy in a united Sri Lanka. Mr. Bandaranaike also apparently realised the folly of his racial politics and reached an agreement with the Federal Party for the formation of district councils which had fewer powers than the provincial councils. 
But anti-national and ambitious political parties working behind the scenes, persuaded a Buddhist monk, Somarama Thera to kill Mr. Bandaranaike by shooting him at point-blank range when he was invited to visit the Bandaranaike mansion at Rosmeid Place.

For a short time after that Wijeyananda Dahanayake acted as Prime Minister. He was a simple man and became famous by coming to Parliament in span clothes or ‘Amude’. 
General elections were held in March 1960 and Dudley Senanayake led the UNP to victory but with a slim majority. But he lost a motion of no confidence when SLFP and elite strategists turned to SWRD Bandaranaike’s widow Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike to take over the leadership with the Time magazine carrying her photograph on the front page under the headline ‘The Weeping Widow’. 

Despite her lack of experience in Party politics, Ms. Bandaranaike did a fairly good job because she was guided by experienced civil service officers who were known for their honesty and integrity unlike the situation today where bribery and corruption are rampant from top to bottom. Despite the good work it was Dudley Senanayake again who won the 1965 General Election and he took the most significant step towards unity by forming a National Government including the Federal Party with its frontliner M. Tiruchelvam receiving the key portfolios of local government. 
Mr. Senanayake and the Federal party reached the Senanayake-Chelvanayakam Pact but a Cabinet Minister leaked it to the media and created tension in the country. With this issue with the Prime Minister being forced to cut the rice ration from two measures at a subsidised rate to one measure free, the move was unpopular and helped Ms. Bandaranaike to lead her party to resounding victory in the July 1970 General Elections. She formed a coalition with the Lanka Samasamaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka. The government drafted a new republican constitution where Ceylon was officially renamed as Sri Lanka and other major changes were brought about. However, the coalition gradually fell apart and many analysts believe that one of the key factors that lead to the war was the district quota system in education. In terms of that the students who got 3 As at the Advanced Level examination in the North while a student who got an A in the less privileged Monaragala district was admitted to the university.

In 1977 the UNP leader J. R. Jayewardene led the party to a record victory with an unprecedented 5/6 majority in Parliament. On Independence Day February 4, the next year Mr. Jayewardene introduced the Executive Presidential system with the then Federal Party leader A. Amirthalingam becoming the Leader of the Opposition. 
As we bid farewell to Mr. Sampanthan tomorrow let us hope that party leaders will work towards ethnic unity and Sri Lanka will become a nation of unity in diversity.