D. S. Senanayake promoted the principle of equality for all

~ “I don’t care if they’re all Tamils, provided they’re elected Ceylonese...”

By Ayesha Inoon

Speaking at a public meeting promoted by the Ceylon National Congress to safeguard threatened constitutional rights on 4 March 1940, D.S. Senanayake, who was later to become independent Lanka’s first Prime Minister declared, “…Ceylon is the land of the Ceylonese, and if one man does a thing of which you do not approve, do not blame the race to which he belongs.” He also stated that if Ceylon won any freedom it was for the benefit of the whole country and not of a few individuals.

D.S. Senanayake – the ‘Father of the Nation’ - strongly believed in equality for all his countrymen. He never allowed sectional interests to predominate his politics and worked equally for the good of Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, and other minorities.In 1940 the National Congress – the only political body in Sri Lanka at that time – drafted the first proposed constitution for independence on behalf of the Cabinet of Ministers. This document was drafted by D.S. Senanayake with the assistance of Sir Ivor Jennings QC, a Constitutional Lawyer of eminence, and Sir Oliver Goonetilake.

Dr. P. Jayasinghe, Secretary Dudley Senanayake Commemoration Association, says it was D.S. Senanayake’s intention to draft a Constitution that gave priority to a Ceylonese identity, thereby safeguarding the rights of the minorities. D.S. Senanayake believed that communal representation aggravated communal dissension within Ceylon. Jayasinghe says that when questioned as to the quantum of Tamil representation in the House (Parliament), his answer was –“I don’t care if they’re all Tamils, provided they’re elected Ceylonese.”

Senanayake also supported the idea of adopting a Second Chamber- an Upper House of Parliament, but opted to have the Lower House decide when to have it. The objective was for more power to be in the hands of the elected politicians and introduce a cabinet system of government.

Minority communities led by G.G. Ponnambalam however objected to the Home Office in England against D.S. Senanayake’s proposal, claiming minority rights were not properly safe guarded in this document. This led to the Home Office appointing a Commission headed by Lord Soulbury to draft a new Constitution for Ceylon.

When the Commission arrived in the island, the Board of Ministers, headed by D.S. Senanayake, boycotted it, saying that first preference should be given to the original Constitution drafted by the National Congress.

Lord Soulbury, recognising the importance of D.S. Senanayake’s influence in the politics of the island, made arrangements to meet him and discuss the matter. Although no direct reference was made to the Constitution, Lord Soulbury gleaned D.S. Senanayake’s original concepts which he incorporated into the new Constitution.

“The fact that the new constitution was called the Soulbury Constitution has led those who had not read D.S. Senanayake’s original document, to infer it was written by the Soulbury Commission. The fact remained however that it was drafted by Mr. Senanayake.

All basic provisions in the ‘Minister’s Draft’ were embodied in the Soulbury Constitution and the only substantial addition made by the Soulbury Commision was the Senate.” (“A Debt That Is Difficult To Repay” by Sir Ivor Jennings QC, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon).

Once D.S. Senanayake realised that the Soulbury Constitution had adopted his own draft Constitution almost in its entirety, he decided to accept it. Although the minorities initially protested the Soulbury Constitution, to the extent of raising black flags in the Jaffna area, they later came to live with it.

G.G. Ponnambalam went on to join the Cabinet as Minister of Industries and Fisheries. When the motion to accept the Soulbury Constitution was placed before the State Council, it was passed with 51 members voting for it and only 3 members voting against it. If the first Cabinet is analysed on the basis of communal representation, it will be noted it had 11 Sinhalese members including Kandyan Sinhalese, two Ceylon Tamil members and one Muslim member.

An analysis of Parliamentary Secretaries (Deputy Ministers) reveals that there were six Sinhalese, one Ceylon Tamil, two Muslims and one Burgher among them.

The only large minority that was left unrepresented in the Cabinet of Ministers was the Indian Tamil minority and it is possible that none of the Indian Tamil members of the Lower House wished to join a Government consisting chiefly of persons belonging to the UNP, the successor to the Ceylon National Congress.

There were also provisions for six appointed MPs to represent minor groups including the Borah community, which were not adequately represented in the Parliament.

One of the most significant provisions of the Soulbury Constitution was Section 29. This Section states that:

1. Subject to the provisions of this Order, Parliament shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the island.
2. No such law shall-
   a) Prohibit or restrict the free exercise of any religion; or
   b) Make any persons of any community or religion liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities or religions are not made liable; or
   c) Confer on persons of any community privilege or advantage which is not conferred on persons of other communities or religions; or
   d) Alter the constitution of any religious body except with the consent of the governing authority of that body:
   Provided that, in any case where a religious body is incorporated by law no such alteration shall be made except at the request of the governing authority of that body.
3. Any law made in contravention of subsection (2) of this Section shall, to the extent of such contravention, be void.
   It needed a two-third majority of Parliament to amend this provision.

In 1956, when Prime Minister S.W.R.D Bandaranaike introduced the Sinhala Language Act, to make the language of the majority the official language of the country, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva of the Trotskyite Lanka Sama Samaja Party made the historic and oft-quoted statement “One language; two nations – two languages; one nation”. Ironically, it was Dr. de Silva as the Minister of Constitutional Affairs who did away with Section 29 of the Soulbury Constitution.

Unfortunately, says Dr. Jayasinghe, when Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike introduced the new Republican Constitution in 1972, appointing a Constitutional Council to draft it, giving “the foremost place to Buddhism”, Section 29 was dropped, and the principles introduced by D.S. Senanayake were lost forever.

He adds that despite certain amendments brought in, in 1978 by President J.R. Jayewardene, the feeling of mistrust had already been sowed among the minorities.

The LSSP’s Prof. Tissa Vitharana, has now been tasked with having to help draft new proposals for devolution of power aimed at bringing to an end the cry for a separate state by a section of the minorities in the country’s north and east.

As Head of the All-Party Representatives Committee on Constitutional Reforms, Vitharana defends his elder party colleague’s decision to drop that Section 29.

He says; “the 1972 Constitution was an entirely new Constitution, developed by a Constituent Assembly, not an amendment to the Soulbury Constitution. Constitutions are not drawn up in heaven. They are drawn up taking into consideration the situation that prevails in the country at that time keeping in mind the future needs of the country and its people. Therefore, the Constitution of 1972 had the principal objective of making us a Republic that was completely free from the British.”

He adds that the 1972 Constitution introduced the Fundamental Rights provision which was not in the Soulbury Constitution. Section 18 in the 1972 Constitution covers the whole subject of fundamental rights and in the various sub-sections; all the rights of the minorities are protected. “There was no room for discrimination against minorities,” he
insisted.