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The champion of the underprivileged By Harris
Wickremetunge George E. De
Silva was a prominent politician in the Donoughmore era of Sri Lankan
history. He was a tall sturdily built man, handsome and jovial with
a constant smile that instantly attracted the attention and friendship
of all he met. He began his
career as a reporter at the Ceylon Independent and later worked
as staff journalist at the Times of Ceylon. He was a brilliant journalist
in his era and obtained many news scoops through his contacts. His
command of English was excellent, having been tutored by the famous
European scholar Henry Young. After entering the Law College from
the then famous Lorens Tutory in Colombo, he passed the Proctors
final exam and went to Kandy in the 1900s. Within a very short period
he established a practice as a criminal lawyer. Two of his brothers,
Timothy and Gregory, were also lawyers of repute. Many famous Dutch Burgher lawyers who resented the entry of George De Silva, dominated the Kandy Bar at the time. On his first day, all lawyers staged a walkout, but the English Magistrate remained and George won his first case. Subsequently, as he found it difficult to get a chair in the courthouse, he got his valet to bring a chair. In Kandy he
met his future partner in life, Agnes Nell, the only daughter of
Paul Nell, who was the Provincial Engineer. George was a keen ballroom
dancer. He met Agnes at many parties and subsequently married her.
She championed the cause of franchise for women in the 1930s. George
entered politics as a ward member of the Kandy Municipal Council.
In 1931, he was elected as a member of the State Council from the
Central Province, which extended from Dambulla to Nuwara Eliya.
He defeated Sir Gerard Wijekoon and Albert Godamunne, two well-known
figures in Sri Lankan politics. Thereafter
he was re-elected as the Member for Kandy for 16 years. He was Health
Minister for five years and first Minister of Fisheries and Industries
in the Parliament of Sri Lanka. From 1942 onwards he was also a
member of the War Cabinet, which comprised only a dozen ministers. The racial riots that started in 1915 at Gampola spread to Kandy the next day and within a few days to all parts of the country except the North and East. Many Sinhalese leaders and professionals were jailed. Some were even tried by the 'Kangaroo Courts' held by British planters, who were Justices of Peace. Martial law was enacted and Punjabi troops who harassed the Sinhala people were brought from India. This irked George and proved to be the watershed in his political career. He fought against
the injustices perpetrated on the Sinhala people by Governor Chalmers.
To this end he went to England with E. W Perera to make representations
to the Colonial Secretary and eventually had the Governor recalled.
He fought valiantly to save the lives of young Hewawitharana and
D.G. Pedris. He fought for
the rights of the peasantry who had to perform compulsory rajakariya.
The rajakariya system was abolished and the depressed class got
their due place in society. He established 250 cottage hospitals
in rural areas and worked for the eradication of malaria by introducing
the spraying of DDT. He established the first ayurveda hospital
and encouraged the development of ayurveda. When George
E. de Silva was the president of the Ceylon National Congress in
1943, J.R Jayewardene and Dudley Senanayake were the Joint Secretaries.
G.C.S Corea, E.A.P Wijeratne, A.F. Molamure, P. de S. Kularatne
and Dr. S.A Wickremasinghe were prominent congress leaders. George's political
achievements were innumerable. He not only moved the motion in the
State Council to establish the Bank of Ceylon, but also went to
England and fought with the colonial rulers to obtain assent for
it. The royal assent to this bill had been delayed for over two
years, as the British were opposed to the setting up of indigenous
banks. His portrait should be hung in every branch of the Bank of
Ceylon as a mark of gratitude. He also proposed
to Parliament the utilization of prison labour to open up virgin
land for cultivation to mould the character of hardened criminals.
This resulted in the opening up of the Anuradhapura and Pallekelle
open prison camps. As the first
minister in charge of fisheries he provided many welfare facilities
for fisherman and also established fishing as an industry. As far
back as 1933 he moved a motion in the state council against the
Nazi Government in Germany to prohibit imports from that country.
He was a man of great vision, a teetotaller who championed the cause
of temperance. He was one of the architects of adult franchise.
He was also among those responsible for the setting up of the Peradeniya
University. His funeral,
which was held in Kandy, witnessed the presence of an estimated
200,000 people who came to pay their last respects to the man who
fought for them. George E. de Silva died a poor man. All the wealth
he had amassed as a very successful lawyer was spent on his political
campaigns. He gave a helping
hand to many needy students and his supporters. He looked after
his enemies in times of distress and won them around. Whenever he
got news that one of his enemies was ill he would visit him with
a carload of gifts. His worst foe in Kandy was the late Cox Sproule,
a famous lawyer, who had been arrested and detained at Diyatalawa
camp under martial law. He was to be shot dead like many other prominent
Ceylonese who spoke against the military excesses of the British
Raj. When his wife appealed to George to save his life, he did so
through his influence with the British rulers. The late N.
E Weerasuriya, Q.C commented, "George E. De Silva's career
was unique not only for his professional success and his political
career, but also because he was the symbol of a new Ceylon, despising
and attempting to overcome caste oppression, mindful of the Buddha's
message: "It is
not by birth that a man becomes an outcast, It is not by
birth that a man becomes a Brahmin, It is the man’s
character that makes him an outcast, It is the man’s
character that makes him a Brahmin" On entering
Kandy town one can see the statue erected by the people of Kandy
in the George E. De Silva Park, as a tribute to the selfless service
he rendered to the Kandyans for over five decades. The words engraved
are: "In this monument as in the hearts of the people for whom he lived and laboured, the name of George E. De Silva is enshrined."
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