President to unveil bronze statue in Borella of Ceylon’s second Prime Minister tomorrow

Those who have known or met the second Prime Minister of then Ceylon are but a few among the living now, albeit few relatives. Those who are living but yet remember to give the information are even less in number.

Some of us were fortunate to have had memorable encounters with the much loved figure and to have been brought up in households where it is ensured that fond memories of a great man are passed on to the next generation – to inform that there did live such great leaders.

When I put pen to paper, on a life of an extraordinary man, this precisely is the reason. What better tribute would be fitting, I thought on the occasion, than recording the views and experiences of those actually involved in the preparation of the tremendous task undertaken in the last months, the making of the statue and its installation, in preparation for the unveiling of a brand new statue. No doubt that is how he, Dudley Senanayake, would want it.

Never has there been a time post-independence, so much than now, where the mere mentioning of the name Dudley Shelton Senanayake is immediately followed by heavy sighs of sadness and a wish with prayer for politicians of his calibre to emerge. 

This was a common phenomenon experienced by many of the Dudley Senanayake Memorial Society Committee tasked with the work at hand after the decision to install a new statue of Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake adjacent to what is commonly known as the Kanatte roundabout. 

At the function arranged tomorrow President Maithripala Sirisena will unveil the new bronze statue and will also officially declare the name of the roundabout too, fittingly to be known hereafter as the Dudley Senanayake roundabout which was earlier known as the Borella Kanatte roundabout. 

The story of the new bronze statue began with the newly-reorganised Dudley Senanayake Memorial Society which gathered at the Board Room of the Young Men’s Buddhist Association early this year. 

Its patron Rukman Senanayake, President of the Society Dr. Karunasena Kodithuwakku and the Society’s Secretary Chandima De Silva collectively spearheading the Committee at its first meeting, before the death anniversary in April, informed of the decision with much enthusiasm. 

Representatives of Committee members, grand nephews, Ruwan Wijewardena and Vasantha Senanayake, both now Parliamentarians serving the Government of Sri Lanka, were also present. 

The new statue to be in bronze and one that would be true to shape and form to the height and stature of the second Prime Minister was tasked to the renowned sculpture Gunasena Kurulugama. Outstanding work by Kurulugama already adorns the City of Colombo, including statues of N.M. Perera, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Peter Keuneman, Gamini Dissanayake and Dharmasiri Senanayake.

A recipient of the Kala Vibushena awards, Kurulugama was ecstatic at being given the task and said that to do one of Dudley Senanayake was an honour and challenging.

After its completion meeting him at the site of the installation taking place, Kurulugama said the work on the statue took nearly three months. It is made out of cement in bronze colour and weighs 800 kilos, with a height of 8 feet and 6 inches, he revealed.

“I believe the statue developed into one that I could be fully satisfied with,” he declared. “It took three months to do the statue. I got started in May and I am happy with the end result.”

The pedestal is about five feet, which is the same one that held the earlier statue. 

“Many photos of Dudley Senanayake were reviewed and the image was decided upon based on his prominent features in the photos. I am honoured I was able to do one of such a leader,” he added. Currently Kurulugama has been tasked with the statues of former Ministers C.C. Kannagara and P.C. Imbulana.

The task of renaming the roundabout too was not going to be easy with long-drawn administration work involved. In addition to seeing the entire operation of the old statue that was removed and the installation of the new tasked to Chandima De Silva, the Secretary to the Dudley Senanayake Memorial Society saw the renaming of the roundabout also to its successful implementation with his own team and spearheaded the organising of the ceremony for the unveiling of the new bronze statute.

There is an interesting story behind this statue as most statues would perhaps relate. The Dudley Senanayake statue that stood at the Borella Kanatte roundabout was originally at the Borella Main Junction, the intersection of four roads. 

Records show that the first statue installed in that location in Borella in memory of Dudley Senanayake soon after his untimely death was carefully moved to the Kanatte Roundaboute to safeguard it from road expansion and development and was in fact the timely and good deed of late Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra. Speaking to his wife, who was herself a follower of Dudley Senanayake’s politics, more details were found. 

Describing the time, she said: “Dudley Senanayake was my hero. We would admire and respect him as our leader in his time and after. I would collect all the memorabilia and I am in the possession of a large collection of his election time badges, hand-outs and newspaper articles.

“The first statue of Dudley Senanayake was installed in the Borella junction right in the centre where the four roads meet in the late ’70’s on a tiny island right at the intersection. Road expansion and development required it to be removed and my husband was at the time the Borella Organiser of the SLFP so he intervened and made an appeal to the RD that he would take it upon himself to relocate the statue.”

Premachandra had offered to take the responsibility personally of paying the taxes for the new location for which his wife continues to make payment to this day.

When the location was to be decided on, Premachandra made sure that the statute was not situated on the island at the centre of the Borella Kanatte intersection, therefore he personally carefully chose a suitable place for its relocation on the side of the Kynsey Road turnoff. Incidentally it is a few feet away from Premachandra’s original political party office, and the very premises ironically that his wife has graciously offered to the committee where the tea has been organised for the gathering for the official unveiling of the statue tomorrow. 

“The statue area comes under the Road Development Authority. He spoke to them and informed he would take it as his own responsibility. He got the letter authorising him, with a clause specifying under the maintenance of the Kynsey Road roundabout, that he would be responsible for that premises and the payment of its taxes,” she said.

Recalling the incident with much nostalgia she said: “After receiving the letter, he would joke to me saying he took best care of my hero and it was ironically located a stone’s throw away from his own office. He added that would be able to keep an eye on it for its safety.”

Wherever any of the Committee went to get done any work in connection to the new statue they had absolutely no difficulty in fulfilling their tasks. The outpouring of assistance of the general public was overwhelming. 

The committee member tasked with the tea for the Maha Sangha was pleasantly surprised. When he approached a nearby boutique for some technical assistance with the tea, the boutique pleaded that not only the technical assistance but they be allowed to provide the tea, not only to the Maha Sangha in attendance but to the entire public who would gather. It was the same reaction from others, when word got around.

If I note down each such incident conveyed to me and those I witnessed myself and experiences at which the public has insisted on their assistance to almost make the organising of the occasion not only by the committee but of the entire public who have come to know of the unveiling of the statue, I will exceed the space allocated for this article by tenfold.

Although it is over 60 years since he stepped into the limelight as the son of the father of the nation, at 35 years of age, and four decades have passed since his untimely death, such is the magnitude of the affection and reverence of this great leader but yet a man of the common people. The public outpouring to help is testimony to the fact that he was a firm favourite of all walks of life and a leader of all time. 

Dudley, born on 19 June 1911 as the eldest son to Molly Dunuwila and Don Stephen Senanayake, became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon upon the tragic demise of his father, D.S. Senanayake. Dudley received his secondary education at S. Thomas’ College, then went on to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge to read for Natural Science Tripos and later was admitted to Middle Temple as a Barrister. 

After returning to Ceylon, Dudley was elected a member of the State Council while his father was Minister of Agriculture and served as a back-bencher for 10 years. He succeeding his father as Minister of Agriculture in 1946 and held the post after Independence. Subsequent to his father’s demise on 26 March 1952, Dudley was chosen as Prime Minister. He remained active in politics until his death, which occurred after an illness on 13 April 1973. The first statue was installed at the Borella junction. 

Tomorrow the new bronze statue will be unveiled adjacent to the Dudley Senanayake roundabout.

(The writer is a Committee Member of the Dudley Senanayake Memorial Society. She is the niece of late P.C. Imbulana, a founder member of the UNP and former President of the D.S. Senanayake Memorial Society. Imbulana held the post of Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the Dudley Senanayake Government.)