Dudley Senanayake: Sri Lanka’s Noblest Son

A leader with steadfast integrity: Dudley Senanayake stuck to the firm belief in the rule of law and believed all Sri Lankans deserve equality and can call this island nation, home 

• Dudley was a Leader of innate integrity, which was unchallenged. and stuck to his steadfast belief in the rule of law and loyalty to his party through its ups and downs, which are inevitable in politics
• Today marks the 114th Anniversary of Dudley Senanayake
• He went to S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia and Corpus Christi College in Cambridge
• His prominently was against the executive presidency, which differed from President J.R. Jayawardene’s stance on the matter at the time

The birth anniversary of the late Dudley Senanayake is on June 19; to me, he was Sir Lanka’s noblest son, the knight in Shining Armour in the annals of our history since Independence. He died not as Prime Minister; in fact, not long before his death, the UNP, which he led, had been defeated, but he was accorded a funeral where he was honoured like a much-loved monarch. No one ever before or after that has had the privilege of so many people, irrespective of political affiliations, flocking to pay their respects to him, from all walks of life, from all over the country. It’s unfortunate for the nation that they realised his worth only after his death. The entire nation mourned for him as one.

He was widely known to be a reluctant politician, thrust into politics by the will of his father, the Father of the Nation and our first Prime Minister, who was inordinately proud of his son. The sports he did at S. Thomas College, Mt Lavinia and at Cambridge helped him in politics to be fair and just and an excellent member of a team; first under his father and later to lead a team. At S. Thomas, he was awarded the Victoria Gold medal for the best all-round student, won colours for Cricket, Boxing, Hockey and Athletics. At Cambridge too, he played cricket for his College, Corpus Christi and won the Cambridge Blue for Boxing. The qualities which won him these awards stood him in good stead all his life, as he always played the game and walked the straight path throughout his life.

Dudley was a Leader of innate integrity, which was unchallenged. and stuck to his steadfast belief in the rule of law and loyalty to his party through its ups and downs, which are inevitable in politics. He never indulged in the political high jumps from party to party, which are rampant today. He was subjected to unfair false slander, but took it in his stride; never hitting back. He hated racist mob violence. I recall him saying, when we asked him to reply to some slander, “This will be forgotten next week, don’t worry about it”. He always advised us that each one of us has good and bad qualities as human beings, that we should forget the bad and see only the good in others. He was a firm believer that each one should have equal rights as citizens of our country, irrespective of race, creed or class. He was a liberal democrat in his thinking, always spoke the truth, never made false promises for political gain, never inflicted pain on anyone; human beings, insects or animals. 

I look on him as a visionary, as he was totally against the Executive Presidency, which I too was against from the start of it. He differed with the late President Jayewardene on that issue. Now, the late Dudley has been proved right; all the ills this country has gone through have been a result of absolute power in the hands of one person. He was an enlightened thinker, an astute observer of the pendulum of public opinion, and was firmly against the tyranny of a few over the vast majority. He was a man whose sharp humour and clarity of thought could cut through the most persuasive argument. He was a fighter for political freedom and social justice; he never harboured rancour against political opponents or those who slandered him. He was a fervent idealist.

As a parliamentarian, his verbal repartee was unsurpassed; I recall two instances of this humour at which I was present in the gallery in Parliament. In an argument with the late Maithripala Senanayake, he said, “Sir, the Honourable member for Medawachchiya believes in Sinhala only by day and the reasonable use of Tamil by night”. When the late Stanley Tillekeratne once referred to the split between Dudley and J.R., Dudley shouted back, “The Hon Member Sir, can see splits at eye level”. Those Parliaments were those of Giants; gentlemen of education and breeding, whatever their political differences may have been, they were not carried further into their personal lives. I have seen him walking across the floor and shaking hands on more than one occasion with those who had attacked him in Parliament. That was an infinitely more genteel era, one could be friends with one’s opponents without being accused of having deals. Dudley was friendly with those Giants of the past; the late Dr N.M. Perera, Dr Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunewardene, Dr S.A. Wickremesinghe, Pieter Keuneman, who were all speakers of excellence. His contribution to Agriculture is well known. His leisure activities were reading, music, photography and his dog. He loved a simple life, driving his little Triumph Herald around even as Prime Minister. Recently, one whom I doubt has ever had the privilege of meeting Dudley quoted a remark said to be by him. Those of us who knew him know he never would have made that particular remark! It was certainly not his style! Dudley will always be my favourite politician, a statesman and a gentleman to the end. 

I recall him saying that the happiest day of his life would be when every citizen of our nation could proudly say, “This is my own, my native land”. Unfortunately, this day has still to come. Racism still goes on unabated, and most people don’t think that we are all Sri Lankan, one people. The only hope is that we all hope and pray that the ugly face of racism will be erased and that every citizen will enjoy equal rights. Its then and only then that we will be a united nation and be respected as such. With the exit of Ranil Wickremesinghe from active politics, it’s sad that the era of gentlemanly politics will be over.

Dudley Senanayake was a visionary far ahead of his time. 

“Let not it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot”.