Anura Bandaranaike: “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride”

Anura Bandaranaike

Ranil Wickremesinghe

Dinesh Gunawardena

What do Ranil Wickremesinghe, Dinesh Gunawardena and Anura Bandaranaike have in common? They were born a year after independence in 1949 and were classmates together at Royal College, Colombo. All three were from illustrious families involved in politics and went on to be brightly shining stars in the Island nation’s political firmament.

Anura Bandaranaike born on 15 February 1949 was regarded as the crown prince of Lankan politics due to the fact that he was the son of SWRD and Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Both of them served as Prime Ministers. Despite this impressive political pedigree, Anura was never a Prime Minister or President. That honour went to his elder sister Chandrika Kumaratunge who was both premier and president. Anura however held many posts like MP, Leader of the Opposition, Cabinet Minister and Speaker but was never “crowned as a King.” Anura passed away 16 years ago at the age of 59 in 2008.

Dinesh Gunawardena born on 2 March 1949 was the son of Philip and Kusumasiri Gunawardena. Dinesh’s father Philip known as the “lion of Boralugoda” was a prominent leftist leader who served as state councillor, Parliamentarian and Cabinet Minister. His mother Kusuma was a Member of Parliament. Dinesh’s uncle Robert Gunewardena and cousin Vivienne were MPs too. His siblings Indika, Prasanna and Githanjana were also in politics as MP-Cabinet Minister, Colombo Mayor and MP-Deputy Minister respectively. Dinesh who served as MP and Cabinet Minister for many years became Prime Minister in 2022. His son Yadamini is currently an MP.

Ranil Wickremesinghe born on 24 March 1949 is the son of Esmond and Nalini Wickremesinghe neither of whom sought political office. Nevertheless the family was well-versed in politics. Ranil’s mother Nalini was the daughter of press baron D.R. Wijewardene. Ranil’s father Esmond was a lawyer and the son of civil servant Cyril Wickremesinghe. Esmond however became a media mogul running the Lake House group of newspapers. He played an influential role in politics and was a maker and unmaker of Governments. Ranil a lawyer himself has been an MP for nearly 45 years and was appointed Prime Minister six times. He is the current Executive President of Sri Lanka.

It could be seen therefore that Anura Bandaranaike among the trio never got to be Prime Minister or President in spite of his parents being premiers. Dinesh Gunawardena has become Prime Minister under his classmate Wickremesinghe. Ranil Wickremesinghe after serving several stints as Prime Minister and setting up a “record” as the longest serving leader of the Opposition became President in 2022.

Anura, Dinesh, Ranil trilogy

The 75th birthdays of these three noteworthy sons of Sri Lanka will be celebrated this year. It is the intention of this column to commemorate the triple “platinum” birthdays of Anura, Dinesh and Ranil by writing a series of three separate articles about them. This trilogy will be published intermittently in February and March. Since Anura Bandaranaike whose birthday is on 15 February is the senior among them, the first article of this trilogy will focus on him. I have also written about Anura on earlier occasions and would be drawing from such writings in penning this piece about him. 

Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was born on 15 February 1949. Being the youngest child he was called “Malli” and regarded as the family pet. Anura went to Royal College and then to a university in London where he read for a BA degree specialising in history and political science. 

Upon his return to Sri Lanka in 1974, Anura plunged with zest into the family “vocation” of politics. He was placed in charge of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) youth wing and also appointed as a director of the National Youth Services Council. Young Anura was then the heir apparent to the party’s crown and national leadership. 

Crown Prince

It was expected that he would have his inevitable tryst with destiny in due course. But fate decreed otherwise. The “Crown Prince” kept waiting and waiting to be crowned but the expected coronation never materialised. The saying “Always the bride’s maid never the bride” applied appropriately to Anura Bandaranaike.

I have interacted with Anura Bandaranaike in my professional capacity as a journalist during 1977 to 88. I have met him on several occasions and engaged in several conversations with him – both on and off the record. I once interviewed Anura at length for an Indian publication. For some reason the interview was never published. When I told him about it not being published, Anura took it lightly and said, “I know it was not your fault.”

Dynastic politics

The phenomenon of “family based political succession” or dynastic politics in Sri Lanka began not with the Bandaranaikes but the Senanayakes when Dudley Shelton succeeded his father Don Stephen Senanayake as Prime Minister in 1951. Then came the Bandaranaikes’ turn when the widowed Sirima became Prime Minister in July 1960. SWRD was assassinated in 1959. India’s Jawarhalal Nehru who was Prime Minister for 17 years died in 1964. His daughter Indira Gandhi became premier in 1966. The Nehru-Gandhis and Bandaranaikes were regarded as close, both politically and personally. 

There is a famous photograph of both families where Nehru, Bandaranaike, Indira and Sirima are seen with their children Rajiv, Sanjay, Sunethra, Chandrika and Anura. There was an interesting story about this picture. When the photograph was taken only Nehru and Bandaranaike were premiers. But soon Sirima and then Indira also became Prime Ministers. Who of the children would become Prime Minister first? was the question. 

The elder Rajiv became a pilot and married Sonia from Italy. He did not evince any interest in a political career. It was the younger Sanjay who got engrossed in politics with his wife Maneka. But Sanjay died in a plane crash soon after he became an MP in 1980. A reluctant Rajiv was forced to fill in as MP and then after his mother’s assassination in 1984 became Prime Minister. He too was assassinated by the LTTE in 1991. 

As for the Bandaranaike siblings both Sunethra and Chandrika are elder to Anura and were in the political limelight to some extent before Anura’s entry into active politics. Sunethra who played an important role in the Socialist Study circle was co-ordinating secretary to her mother when she was PM. Chandrika after a stint at Sorborne was director at the Land Reforms Commission. 

MP in 1977 

Yet it was the younger brother Anura who became an MP first in 1977 when he was just 28 years old. When Anura first contested elections in 1977 he did not do so in the Gampaha district where the Bandaranaike family had much political clout. Instead he went to the Central Province and contested in the three-member constituency of Maskeliya-Nuwara Eliya. 

In 1983 he became Leader of the Opposition at 34 and was the youngest opposition leader in the Commonwealth. 

Since his father was leader of the opposition from 1952 till he became Premier in 1956, Anura also was expected to be PM in the same manner. Indeed he may very well have been PM if his mother had won in 1988 and become President. But that was not to be. 

Anura’s sister Chandrika broke off from the SLFP with her husband Vijaya Kumaratunga and formed a new party the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP). After her husband was assassinated by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in 1988 Chandrika left for London in a state of self-exile. Chandrika however returned and re-joined the SLFP. This led to tensions between Anura and Chandrika and also between mother and son. Accusing his mother of favouring the daughter the son walked out of the party and joined the arch-rival UNP. 

When the SLFP heading the People’s Alliance came to power in 1994 it was Chandrika who became Prime Minister in August. In November she contested the Presidency and won in a landslide. Sirima was made Prime Minister. The Bandaranaikes who made history as the first husband-wife prime ministerial duo had made history again as the first father-mother-daughter premier trio and also as the first daughter President-mother Prime Minister combination. Anura with his record-creating ambition was out in the cold. 

Impressive orator

Anura Bandaranaike was an impressive orator in both Sinhala and English. He extensively researched facts before his Parliamentary speeches. He was one MP who made full use of the Parliament library delving deep into past Hansards.

He was also well-versed in Shakespeare’s plays and the Bible and would often aptly quote from them. Anura’s parliamentary address on the occasion of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s visit in 1985 was a splendid effort. It was perhaps the best indication of Anura being a chip of the old block as his father SWRDB had been dubbed “silver-tongued orator”.

Sense of humour

Anura Bandaranaike had a peculiar sense of humour and was fond of playing pranks and practical jokes on his friends. One of his regular pranks was to answer marriage advertisements in the names of friends and relatives. Another was to send invitations for dinner to uninvited guests and get them to drop in at the residence of the shocked ‘host’. One of Anura’s favourite targets in these pranks was the late Lankasa de Alwis, his first cousin. Anura would however be miffed if he was at the receiving end of jokes and tricks. But his ‘anger’ never lasted long.

Avid reader

Anura Bandaranaike was an avid reader of books and magazines. He had a fine collection of contemporary fiction as well as biographical books. His interests were eclectic, ranging from Plato to Stephen Crane. He was a voracious reader and had one of the finest libraries in Colombo on current affairs. He loved getting books as gifts from his friends.

A close friend who was bringing him some recently-published political books from abroad, including one on Osama Bin Laden, was about to have it confiscated by a Customs officer at Katunayake since it was about terrorism. On hearing that it was for Anura, the Customs official smiled and said, “That’s okay then,” but in a whisper asked, “Is it true that he’s getting married?” When this was related to Anura, he roared with laughter. Anura Bandaranaike never got married but rumour mills in Lanka worked overtime speculating about his impending marriage with this or that woman!

Watches

Anura was also fond of wining and fine dining. He dressed with sartorial elegance. He used to smoke Havana cigars occasionally. Another of his passions was watches. He collected them. Among his possessions was a Cartier watch presented by former Malaysian Premier Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. Anura also prized a watch bestowed with blessings by India’s Sathya Sai Baba at his Puttaparthi ashram. Anura was a Sai Baba devotee. He used to wear a ring presented by the God man on his finger always.

Bandaranaike was fond of travelling. Los Angeles was his favourite city. He would visit LA at least twice or thrice a year sometimes, staying for weeks at a stretch. 

Film fan

He was also a film fan since childhood. As a schoolboy Anura had an album where he pasted newspaper and magazine articles about the films he had seen. Later on he acquired an impressive collection of DVDs and also set up a state-of-the-art home theatre system. 

Anura had a Japanese-made luxurious armchair on which he reclined, watching English and Hindi films. Despite having this arrangement at home, Anura liked to watch current films in movie theatres. The last film he saw in a theatre was Amol Palekar’s ‘Paheli,’ starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerjee.

Opposition leader

In 1983 the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) lost their seats as they refused to take oaths disavowing separatism under the sixth amendment to the Constitution. Mrs. Bandaranaike had been deprived of her civic rights in 1980 and was out of Parliament. So Anura became Leader of the Opposition. He succeeded Appapillai Amirthalingam. S. Perinbanayagam was the Amirthalingam’s secretary. When Perinbanayagam appealed to Anura that he be retained as secretary to Bandaranaike also, the SLFP leader consented despite the political differences. That was Anura the magnanimous. 

It was in the early nineties of the 20th century that Chandrika returned to SLFP folds again. Mrs. Bandaranaike felt that Chandrika was better equipped to lead the SLFP to victory and favoured her. 

Anura resented this and instead of resisting such attempts within the party, crossed over to the UNP in 1993. He became the Minister of Higher Education and National Reconciliation under Dingiri Banda Wijetunge. In 1994 the UNP was out of office after 17 years. Anura was in the opposition again. 

Speaker

Mrs. Bandaranaike’s declining health and consequent death saw an end to sibling enmity. There was rapprochement among both the sisters and brother. After the 2000 October election Anura was elected unanimously as Speaker in Parliament. 

As Speaker Anura distinguished himself by upholding the independence and supremacy of the Legislature during a difficult period. Anura later broke ranks with the UNP and re-joined the SLFP in 2001. The UNP came to power a few months later but once again Anura was in the opposition. 

Foreign Minister

It was finally in 2004 that Anura came to be on the winning side. He was instrumental in forging an alliance with the JVP. Anura was made Investment Promotion, Enterprise Development and Industries Minister in the Government headed by sister Chandrika Kumaratunga. Anura was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister after Lakshman Kadirgamar’s death in August 2005. 

Mahinda Rajapaksa

It was in 1970 that Mahinda Rajapaksa entered Parliament as its youngest MP. Though Anura was not an MP, Mahinda used to play second fiddle to him then. In fact Mahinda and some of his siblings referred to Anura as “lokka”. It was both a term of respect and endearment. Later it turned derisive. 

Fluctuating political fortunes saw Mahinda’s stock rise and Anura’s fall. It was Mahinda who became PM in 2004 and also Presidential candidate in 2005 after Chandrika. Anura was to be a running mate of sorts. He would be Prime Minister if Rajapaksa was elected President. But then Anura was always star-crossed. 

He did not co-operate in the presidential campaign as he ought to have. Thus when Rajapaksa won due to the Tiger enforced boycott, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was made PM instead of Anura Bandaranaike. Anura was made Tourism Minister and later “demoted” to National Heritage Minister in a cabinet re-shuffle.

Carnival of clowns 

A disgruntled Bandaranaike described the Mahinda Government as a “carnival of clowns” and revolted twice. The first was with Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Sooriaraachi in February 2007. Within two weeks he was back again with Mahinda.

The second revolt was on the 2007 Budget voting day when he crossed over rashly to the opposition. Realising that he had been taken for a ride Anura walked out of Parliament. Once again he mended fences with Rajapaksa but restoration of ministerial portfolio was delayed due to his declining health. 

Bade adieu

Anura was afflicted with cancer and received medical treatment in Singapore. Though he showed signs of recovery, the situation took a turn for the worse shortly after his 59th birthday party on 15 Feb 2008. Anura’s physical condition rapidly deteriorated and he was bed-ridden in March. And then came the final farewell on 16 March 2008 when Anura bade adieu to the world. 

Last days

An acquaintance described the last days of Anura Bandaranaike thus: “Ill-health shadowed his life during his last few months and Anura Bandaranaike began speaking of a topic quite novel to most of us —spirituality. A devotee of Sathya Sri Sai Baba, he believed in divinity and mind elevation. If one caught him in a relaxed mood, he would happily show the photographs taken with Sathya Sri Sai Baba and speak reverentially about some of the blessed people he had met — Sai Baba, the Pope and the Dalai Lama.

“They are on earth to generate happiness for others,” he would say reflectively, and sometimes he would show his many walls adorned with photographs of immense value, some of them images of past political events, and explain them one by one. He would pause near his father’s portrait and say, “The finest gentleman I ever knew. Thankfully he was my father.” And he would point to a portrait of his mother, young and freshly-appointed Prime Minister: “In her day, no other lady looked prettier.”

Anura Bandaranaike was to the Manor (or Walauwe) born and the tragedy of his life was that he was always conscious of it. He thought that being a Bandaranaike entitled him to the highest offices of the land. That however was not to be. Many persons would have been delighted to have gained at least a part of what Anura Bandaranaike had had in terms of political office. But the man had set his sights on something he thought was his birthright. Being born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth Anura expected everything would be delivered to him on a platter. This never happened and so he was disillusioned and disappointed. 

Billy Bunter 

For all his follies and faults and foibles, few could be ‘angry’ with Anura or nurse grudges against him. Neither could Anura Bandaranaike be ‘angry’ for long with others. This personality trait was his greatest asset. He may not have been very lovable, but like Billy Bunter of Greyfriars, was not entirely unlikeable either.

Above all, Anura was a decent human being! A gentleman – gentle and genteel, in the old-fashioned way. In that sense he was a misfit in today’s hurly-burly world of cut-throat politics.

Not corrupt or vindictive

Anura had two characteristics that were rarities or oddities among most politicians. He was not corrupt and he was not vindictive. Such politicians are virtually extinct in the Sri Lanka of today.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected].)