Minneriye Deviyo

50th death anniversary of CP de Silva:

by Wajira Abeywardene,

Chairman of the United National Party

(This article is to mark the 50th death anniversary which falls on Oct. 9, of the initiator of the Mahaweli Development Project, former Minister and Leader of the House CP de Silva)

You may find it hard to believe that it was CP de Silva who paved the way for the first woman prime minister of the world, Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike from Sri Lanka to attain that office. That is the lesser remembered truth. When SWRD Bandaranaike was assassinated in 1959, the then deputy leader of the SLFP and the Leader of the House, CP de Silva was in a foreign hospital undergoing treatment for poisoning – a part of the very same plot to assassinate SWRD.

As a result of this, the prime minister’s post fell on the lap of Galle MP Wijayananda Dahanayake, then not a member of the SLFP. Since the SLFP did not have a second rung leader, it invited Dudley Senanayake to lead the party and become prime minister. When that invitation was turned down, those SLFP leaders invited Prof Gunapala Malalasekera, popular as a Buddhist leader, to lead their party. Prof Malalasekera too turned down the invitation saying he could write books and deliver lectures but had no political skills.

Although Dahanayake obtained the premiership that was CP’s by right, he did not even accept the deputy leadership of the SLFP. Instead, he opted to hound SLFP Ministers and sack them en masse. In the meantime, CP de Silva, after partial recovery, returned to Sri Lanka. As soon as he returned home, he was appointed the SLFP leader in December 1959 and he started reforming the party, visiting all corners of the country despite his ill-health, to address meetings and rallies.

In that context, Dahanayake dissolved Parliament and went for a fresh election. He contested that as head of the newly-formed Lanka Prajatanthravadi Peramuna. Dudley Senanayake leading the UNP won 50 seats at the March 1960 general election while CP de Silva, leading the SLFP, won 46 seats. Dudley became the Prime Minister and CP de Silva, the Leader of the Opposition.

Although, Dudley formed a new government he could not remain in office for long, losing the vote on the Throne Speech in Parliament compelling another election the same year. The effects of poisoning and exhaustion at the election campaign had taken their toll on CP. He was very tired and almost lost his voice and spoke with a marked stammer, still recovering from the attempt on his life.

Following Dudley’s Throne Speech defeat there was another election in July 1960 as Dudley dissolved parliament. CP de Silva met Sirimavo Bandaranaike and requested her to accept the SLFP leadership. She did not agree but later changed her mind after CP Silva promised total support for her to form a government. She, however, chose not to run at that election and entered the legislature from the Senate.

There were allegations that CP ceded the SLFP leadership to Sirima as a result of campaigning and lobbying by her supporters. He responded to these at an inaugural rally chaired by Sirimvao and held in Anuradharpua declaring: “I am from Balapitiya in the Galle district. Not even the devil can remove me from my post by force. I handed over the leadership to Mrs Bandaranaike on my own. What I look for is not the post but to work for the people.”

The SLFP won the July election and Sirimavo became the world’s first woman prime minister. It was CP who made that possible enabling Mrs. Bandaranaike to comfortably win the July 1960 election. Mrs B brought Felix Dias Bandaranaike to politics. He was a young, able and ambitious lawyer from the Bandaranaike clan who took control of the SLFP from the inexperienced Mrs. Bandaranaike. This was disliked by many senior SLFPers who rallied round CP and in 1964 unexpectedly toppled Mrs. Badaranaike’s government that included elements of the old left like Dr. N.M. Perera. CP demonstrated by that crossover with a group of SLFPers that he was a leader who was not even afraid of the devil as he had claimed at Anuradhapura several months previously. He explained his defection as a desire “to live as a free man in a free society.”

In 1965 CP de Silva together with the UNP and formed a government led by Dudley Senanayake as prime minister with CP de Silva was made the Leader of the House. It was rumoured that Dudley offered CP the premiership as it was his defection that enabled the defeat of the Sirimavo government and the election that followed. But that offer was not accepted.

It was under this government that CP, as Minister of Lands, Irrigation and Power began implementing his lifelong dream of diverting the Mahaweli to provide irrigation water to dry zone farmers. As a member of then prestigious Ceylon Civil Service, CP had worked with Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, helping to colonize the scarcely populated dry zone with land hungry peasants from the wet zone. He later quit the Civil Service and ran for parliament from Polonnaruwa in 1952 under the newly formed SLFP of Mr. Bandaranaike. That was his entry into politics.

Apart from initiating the Mahaweli project, CP de Silva had a role in other major dry zone irrigation projects including Uda Walawe, Chandrika Wewa and other large scale irrigation and hydro electricity projects. He created agricultural colonies in the dry zone allocating land for temples in suitable places. As the Minister of Power, he took the initiative to provide electricity to rural villages. He built many schools including the Royal College in Polonnaruwa for the rural children. He dedicated his life to develop this country through improving agriculture. As a result of his dedication he won the appellation ‘Minneriye Deviyo’ (God of Minneriya) from the farmers. He was the first politician who was venerated as a god by people in Sri Lanka.

CP De Silva was born on April 16, 1912 at Randombe in Balapitiya. He received his education at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavina, University College here and London University. Joining the coveted Ceylon Civil Service he became an Assistant Government Agent (AGA) and Director of Land Development in the first post-Independence government. He joined politics following numerous requests by those who convinced him that he could serve people better as a politician than a government official.

He became Vice Chairman of the UNP after the 1965 election. He had served as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Lands, Land Development and Agriculture; and Minister of Power and Irrigation during his career. He died on Oct 09, 1972 at the age of 62. On the occasion of his 50th death anniversary, I pay my most humble and grateful tribute to late CP de Silva, the architect of the Mahaweli Development Project and his services to the people who venerated him as the Minneriye Deviyo.