Premadasa: ‘Swadeshaya’ & Social Democracy
Late President R. Premadasa
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
By Dayan Jayatilleka -June 24, 2014
The 90th Birth Anniversary of Ranasinghe Premadasa
At the age of 18, Ranasinghe Premadasa had launched a monthly magazine called ‘SWADESHAYA’. He was a patriot. But that was not all he was, and his patriotism was different from that which is dominant today.
As the UNP struggles to recover as an opposition party and faces two national elections in less than a year, it is vital to understand Premadasa’s role in the UNP comeback of 1970-73 and its sweeping victory in 1977. The dominant interpretation is one of concealment by condescension. The 1977 effort is seen overwhelmingly as one of J. R. Jayewardene, assisted by ‘the best and the brightest’ – an elite of clever, well educated, tough- minded men of comfortable circumstance who endowed the masses with enlightened leadership, with Premadasa the upwardly mobile commoner, constituting a handy bit of camouflage and providing populist demagoguery. In this version, after the victory J. R. was ‘Machiavellian’ or ‘magnanimous’ in making Premadasa the Prime Minister. Upon becoming President, Premadasa is perceived to have marginalized such elements who contributed so much to the UNP–chafing as he obviously was, with envy at his social and intellectual betters! The pre-requisite for electoral success and the country’s salvation and progress today is therefore said to be to bring back ‘the educated’ and ‘the professionals’, giving them the pride of place they had in the winning UNP of ’77. This version is false in three fundamental respects. It obscures the dynamics and balance of forces within the UNP of ‘70-77, falsifies the nature of Premadasa’s contribution, and distorts the character of the ’77 victory itself.