Bandaranaike, Sirimavo R.D.

Bandaranaike, Sirimavo R.D.

▪ prime minister of Sri Lanka
in full  Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike 
born April 17, 1916, Ratnapura, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]
died October 10, 2000, Colombo, Sri Lanka
 stateswoman who, upon her party's victory in the 1960 Ceylon general election, became the world's first woman prime minister. She left office in 1965 but returned to serve two more terms (1970–77, 1994–2000) as prime minister. The family she founded with her late husband, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, rose to great prominence in Sri Lankan politics.

      Born into a wealthy family, she married the politician S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (Bandaranaike, S.W.R.D.) in 1940 and began to interest herself in social welfare. After her husband, who became prime minister in 1956, was assassinated in 1959, she was induced by his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to become the party's leader. The SLFP won a decisive victory at the general election in July 1960, and she became prime minister.

      Bandaranaike carried on her husband's program of socialist economic policies, neutrality in international relations, and the active encouragement of the Buddhist religion and of the Sinhalese language and culture. Her government nationalized various economic enterprises and enforced a law making Sinhalese the sole official language. By 1964 a deepening economic crisis and the SLFP's coalition with the Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (“Ceylon Socialist Party”) had eroded popular support for her government, which was resoundingly defeated in the general election of 1965. In 1970, however, her socialist coalition, the United Front, regained power, and as prime minister Bandaranaike pursued more radical policies. Her government further restricted free enterprise, nationalized industries, carried out land reforms, and promulgated a new constitution that created an executive presidency and made Ceylon into a republic named Sri Lanka. While reducing inequalities of wealth, Bandaranaike's socialist policies had once again caused economic stagnation, and her government's support of Buddhism and the Sinhalese language had helped alienate the country's large Tamil minority. The failure to deal with ethnic rivalries and economic distress led, in the election of July 1977, to the SLFP's retaining only 8 of the 168 seats in the National Assembly, and Bandaranaike was replaced as prime minister.

      In 1980 the Sri Lanka parliament stripped Bandaranaike of her political rights and barred her from political office, but in 1986 President J.R. Jayawardene granted her a pardon that restored her rights. She ran unsuccessfully as the SLFP's candidate for president in 1988, and after regaining a seat in parliament in 1989 she became the leader of the opposition.

      Bandaranaike's children, in the meantime, had become major political figures within the SLFP. Her son, Anura P.S.D. Bandaranaike (b. 1949), was first elected to parliament in 1977 and had become the leader of the SLFP's right-wing faction by 1984. He was frustrated in his bid to become the party's leader, however, by his sister Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Kumaratunga, Chandrika Bandaranaike) (b. 1945), who held left-wing views and was favoured by their mother for the leadership. In response, Anura defected from the SLFP and joined the rival United National Party (UNP) in 1993.

      Chandrika had been active in the SLFP before marrying the film actor Vijaya Kumaratunga in 1978, and after his assassination in 1988 she rejoined her mother's party. She soon came to head its left-wing faction, and a string of electoral victories propelled her to the leadership of an SLFP-based coalition that won the parliamentary elections of August 1994. Chandrika became prime minister, and in November of that year she won the presidential election over the UNP candidate. Chandrika appointed her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, to serve as prime minister in her new government, which mounted a major military campaign against Tamil separatists in 1995. Failing health forced Bandaranaike to resign her post in August 2000. Shortly after voting in the October parliamentary elections, she suffered a heart attack and died.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias — ▪ 2001       Sri Lankan political leader (b. April 17, 1916, Ratnapura, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] d. Oct. 10, 2000, Gampaha, Sri Lanka), became in 1960 the first woman in the world to serve as a prime minister. She was a member of a family dynasty… …   Universalium

  • Bandaranaike, Sirimavo — ► (1916 2000) Política cingalesa. Fue primera ministra en 1960 65 y 1970 77 …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike — (* 17. April 1916 in Balangoda; † 10. Oktober 2000 bei Colombo) war eine singhalesische Politikerin. Bandaranaike hatte drei Mal das Amt des Premierministers Ceylons bzw. Sri Lankas inne, in den Jahren 1960 1965, 1970 1977 und 1994 2000, und war… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • BANDARANAIKE (S.) — BANDARANAIKE SIRIMAVO (1916 ) Héritière d’une des grandes familles de l’aristocratie kandyenne, Sirimavo Bandaranaike fut marquée par une enfance provinciale; elle fit ensuite des études à Colombo. En octobre 1940 elle épousa S. W. R. D.… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bandaranaike — Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Solomon …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Bandaranaike, S.W.R.D. — ▪ prime minister of Sri Lanka in full  Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike   born Jan. 8, 1899, Colombo, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] died Sept. 26, 1959, Colombo       statesman and prime minister of Ceylon (1956–59), whose election marked a… …   Universalium

  • Sirimavo Bandaranaike — Mandats 7e, 9e et 15e Premier ministre du Sri Lanka 21 juillet 1960 – 27 mars 1965 Monarque Élis …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sirimavo Bandaranaike — Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (* 17. April 1916 in Balangoda; † 10. Oktober 2000 bei Colombo) war eine singhalesische Politikerin. Bandaranaike hatte drei Mal das Amt des Premierministers Ceylons bzw. Sri Lankas inne, in den Jahren 1960… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Sirimavo Bandaranaike — XV Primera Ministra de Sri Lanka 12 de noviembre de 1994 – 10 de agosto de 2000 Predecesor …   Wikipedia Español

  • Bandaranaike — might be one of the following people *Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike was the Head Mudaliyar (chief native interpreter and adviser) to the Governor one of the most powerful personalities in British colonial Ceylon. *Solomon Bandaranaike (1899 ndash; …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”