transcurrents

Anura Bandaranaike: Up Close and Personal

March 22nd, 2008

by Gamini Gunaratne

My relationship with the Bandaranaikes started from the time of my father, K D Chandrapala, who was Village Council Chairman for Dompe and who maintained close links with S W R D Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and, later, with Felix Dias Bandaranaike.

[Anura Bandaranaike]

It was in 1980 that J R P Suriyapperuma asked me to meet Mrs Bandaranaike along with my cousin, Upali Gunaratna, who is now chairman of the National Savings Bank. We went to Horagolla where she was residing at the time. She reminded us that our family were loyal to the Bandaranaikes. She said she had decided to make Anura the SLFP organiser for Dompe and that she was ‘entrusting’ him to us. We readily agreed to support him.
I was electoral secretary for Dompe. We developed a strong friendship. I worked closely with Anura in politics. And when he crossed over to the UNP, I went along. My decision to switch parties was based entirely on the fact that Anura had decided to join the UNP. I did not consider the political consequences for myself. I had no grievance against the SLFP. I can still remember how Mrs Bandaranaike told me, ‘If your father was alive, he wouldn’t have done this.’

Emotional

I recall the day Anura was suspended from the SLFP. I was with him at Rosmead Place when he got the letter of suspension. He opened it, read it and started crying. Such was the man. He called his sister, Sunethra, who came and tried to console him. That evening he decided to go out of Colombo. People were telephoning him with questions. Anura was not the type who could handle that kind of situation. He was emotional by nature. Politics had no bearing at times like that. He couldn’t give interviews to the press saying, ‘This is my line and this is what I will do’. We went to Nuwara Eliya where we stayed for five days. He spoke constantly of his father and what he, Anura, had done for the SLFP.

Back from Nuwara Eliya, Anura resigned from the SLFP and went abroad. To see him off at the airport was Mahinda Rajapaksa, who implored with him to return to the SLFP fold. Anura told him that he would consider it. But when he came back, he had decided to join the UNP. He was made Minister of Higher Education and leader of the Gampaha district. I realised later that he was not satisfied with the position he got as Minister of Higher Education. He had been hoping for the Foreign Affairs portfolio. He was in two minds while he was with the UNP. That uncertainty was also a part of his character. He made decisions as if he was bold but he regretted them after some time.

It was after Chandrika returned from abroad that Anura was suspended from the SLFP for reasons now known to everybody. Chandrika became actively involved with the party. At the time, I did not agree with Mrs Bandaranaike because I felt Anura was more suitable for the job given to Chandrika. I was critical of Mrs Bandaranaike’s decision. Anura had done an excellent job as Leader of the Opposition, helping Mrs Bandaranaike return to parliament with a large number of SLFPers in 1987. But Mrs Bandaranaike said she had her reasons, and that Anura doesn’t work enough.

Looking back, I would agree that, politically, Mrs Bandaranaike was right-and we were wrong. If I may analyse Anura’s character, I considered him to be a very intelligent man. He was well read and could speak eloquently in both languages. He had a pleasing personality and his family background was incomparable with that of any other Sri Lankan. There was nobody else who had the kind of qualifications that Anura did to be the head of this state-education, family background, knowledge and ability. Then why didn’t this man make it to the top?

“Lokka, oya eka”

My feeling is that he thought he was destined to get that position so he didn’t go the extra mile. That mindset alone-when you think you have all the qualifications and that you are destined to get a position-won’t take you there. He’s a classic example of it. Some people blamed those around him, saying they were responsible for his disaster. I don’t agree because he was a man who did not listen to anybody. That was his nature. If he did not listen to his mother, whom he was so found of, he would not listen to anyone else. Anura had a varied circle of friends. There were people who offered him any support-whether intellectual, organisational or financial-for him to go that extra little bit. But he never made use of them.

I must also add that Mahinda Rajapaksa did everything possible at that time to make Anura leader of the SLFP. Whatever he organised, whether it was a ratha yathra or pada yathra, he gave leadership to Anura. He would always say, “lokka, oya eka”. “Boss, you’re number one.” I have heard him say that. Mahinda may have hoped to make Anura leader so that he could be second in command.

When the UNP was defeated shortly after he joined them, Anura was very, very upset. He had spent 17 years in the opposition where he had worked tirelessly. He joined the UNP at the last moment and that party lost. I was with him on election day. I continued to stay at Rosmead Place for a month after the election because he was so upset. He needed someone to talk to, someone to help him get over it. Fortunately, I was a bachelor so I had time. I think he felt that he had made a mistake in joining the UNP but he was too proud to admit it. He usually preferred to say that wrong was done unto him rather than take responsibility.

During that period, Anura even contemplated quitting politics. Someone suggested that he should be made ambassador to Washington-and he would have accepted the job but Chandrika ruled it out. His relationship with her was not good at the time. It was maintained through messengers, mostly Mrs Bandaranaike.

Mrs Bandaranaike died on the day of the next parliamentary election. From the moment he heard that his mother had died, he was crying throughout. By the time we arrived at Rosmead Place, he was really gone. It was then that I realised how much he loved and was dependent on his mother, even while fighting with her. He had always been fond of his mother. She was a hero in his eyes. But they had a love-hate relationship, as everyone knows. I feel that this was because he behaved with his mother like a child although his mother considered him to be an adult. She wanted to groom him and take the party forward.

Back to the SLFP

After the election, which the PA won, Anura was informed that the SLFP would support his candidature if he was willing to become Speaker. The UNP also backed his appointment. He was happy that he could be Speaker with the support of both parties. He also reconciled his differences with Chandrika. He later left the UNP and decided to contest the next parliamentary election on the PA ticket. It was at that election that the PA lost and the UNP took over. Anura then brokered a deal with the JVP, pressurised Chandrika to take over three Ministries, to dissolve parliament and to call an election. The PA won and he became a Minister.

My political association with Anura stopped after he crossed back to the SLFP. I had followed him blindly to the UNP but when he was returning to the SLFP, he didn’t even ask me whether I wanted to go back. He had decided what was good for him. But I continued my friendship with Anura because he was a good man. I didn’t advise him politically and my frequent visits ended. Still, we kept in touch on the phone. I went for his last birthday party.
Anura was meticulous in his dress and in everything else he did. He had an old typewriter that he had been using since university. He would type his own letters on this contraption. Every document he owned was filed. Before his speeches, he would read books, talk to people related to the subject, make notes and type the entire speech himself. He also loved to watch films. In my view, I think he might be one of the few people in the world who have seen 90 per cent of the films Hollywood has produced. He would spend time in Los Angeles, watching movies. He would return with posters, get them framed and hang them. He would cut out newspaper and magazine reviews of the most interesting films he had watched. He would paste them and file them.

Anura loved his family. I have heard that Chandrika was closer and more protective of Anura, even though they had fallen out at one point. They had a close bond. He was fond of her children. Anura loved all children and would dote on them. A little girl of about two-and-a-half years lived next door to Anura at Rosmead Place. I can still remember how, every morning, he would send the servants to bring her to his house. She would spend a few hours with him, playing, eating chocolates and other snacks, before returning home. He would bring gifts for her from his foreign trips. They moved house but kept in touch. I was happy to see them at his funeral the other day. The little girl has grown up now.

Practical joker

He loved to play practical jokes on people. He would often ask uninvited guests to turn up at the houses of friends on their birthdays. So people kept turning up at houses even when there was no party. One day, his friends turned the tables on him and invited all kinds of people-including Bradman Weerakoon and J R Jayawardene-to Anura’s house on his birthday. Most of them turned up, dressed to the nines. They were sent away at the gate. Luckily for J R, he called Anura beforehand and was told that there’s no party! Once, he invited beggars to the house of friend who lived at Barnes Place. He even printed invitation cards saying that women would be donated a sari, the men a sarong and toys to the children. About 60 of them turned up at 7 am. When this friend opened the gate to go to the temple, they rushed into his garden shouting “apey mahattaya”! He had to give them money to get rid of them. I saw Anura last just before he went to Singapore for treatment. He didn’t talk about his condition. He isn’t someone who can discuss bad news. He said he was going for a health check. I didn’t ask him anything more.

If you ask me if he was happy, I wouldn’t say he was happy or unhappy. Then again, in retrospect, I wouldn’t say he was happy.

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