Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (April 17, 1916 - October 10, 2000) was a politician from Sri Lanka. She was prime minister of Sri Lanka three times, 1960-1965, 1970-1977 and 1994-2000, and was the world's first female prime minister. She was a leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. She was the wife of a previous Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Solomon Bandaranaike and the mother of Sri Lanka's third President Chandrika Kumaratunga. She was also mother of Anura Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan Tourism Minister and Sunethra Bandaranaike, philanthropist. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The following is a list of Sri Lankan Prime Ministers: Don Stephen Senanayake (February 4, 1948 - March 26, 1952) Dudley Shelton Senanayake (March 26, 1952 - October 12, 1953) John Lionel Kotalawela (October 12, 1953 - April 12, 1956) Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (April 12, 1956 - September 26, 1959) Wijeyananda Dahanayake (September... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-September 26, 1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). ... Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (born June 29, 1945) was the 5th President of Sri Lanka and 4th Executive President of Sri Lanka (November 12, 1994 - November 19, 2005). ... Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike (born February 15, 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician. ...

Political background

On her husband's assassination, Bandaranaike took over the leadership of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which he had formed and led to election victory in 1956, and kept it for 40 years until her death. She became prime minister on July 21, 1960 and ruled her country on and off throughout the 1960s and 1970s until she was crushingly defeated in a general election in 1977. In 1980, she was expelled from parliament for abuse of power, and banned from public office for seven years. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major political parties in Sri Lanka. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

A staunch socialist, Bandaranaike continued her husband's policies of nationalizing key sectors of the economy, such as banking and insurance. Unfortunately, she was on a roller-coaster ride from the moment she took office and within a year of her 1960 election victory she declared a state of emergency. This followed a civil disobedience campaign by part of the country's minority Tamil population who were outraged by her decision to drop English as an official language and her order to conduct all government business in Sinhala, the language of the majority Sinhalese. This they considered a highly discriminatory act and an attempt to deny Tamils access to all official posts and the law. This lead to an increase in Tamil militancy which escalated under succeeding administrations. Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... An anti-war activist is arrested for civil disobedience on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States on February 9, 2005. ... Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are an ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Sinhala language Sinhala alphabet Sinhala people Sinhala place-names Sinhala Place Names, see Sinhala place-names Category: ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Further problems arose with the President's state takeover of foreign businesses, particularly the petroleum companies, which upset the Americans and the British, who imposed an aid embargo on Sri Lanka. As a result, Bandaranaike moved her country closer to China and the Soviet Union and championed a policy of nonalignment. At home, she crushed an attempted military coup in 1962. In 1964, she entered into a historic coalition with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). At the end of that year, she was defeated on a confidence vote, losing the general election that followed. Six years later she bounced back, her United Front winning a substantial majority in the 1970 elections. For delayed access after publication, see Embargo (academic publishing). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (literally Ceylon Equal Society Party, in Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, in Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி) is a trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. ... The United Front was a polical alliance in Sri Lanka, formed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) in 1968. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ...

Her second term saw a new Constitution introduced, which ended the country's status as a Commonwealth realm. Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka and declared a republic. But after just 16 months in power, a left-wing youth uprising almost toppled her government: Sri Lanka's small ceremonial army could not deal with the insurgency. She was saved by her skillful foreign policy when the country's non-aligned friends rushed to her help. In a rare move, both India and Pakistan sent troops to Colombo to aid Bandaranaike in crushing the insurgency. In those tough political years, she turned herself into a formidable leader. "She was the only man in her cabinet", one of her officials commented during the height of the insurgency. The Commonwealth Realms, shown in pink A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth of Nations that separately recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch. ... Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: District Colombo Division, Colombo District Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area    - City 37. ...

The 1973 oil crisis had a traumatic effect on the Sri Lankan economy; the government had no access to Western aid and her socialist policies stifled economic activity. Rationing had to be imposed. Bandaranaike became more and more intolerant of criticism and forced the shutdown of the Independent newspaper group, whose publications were her fiercest critics. Earlier she had nationalized the country's largest newspaper, Lake House, which has remained the government's official mouthpiece. 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

Style of functioning

Known to her fellow Sri Lankans as "Mrs. B," she could skillfully use popular emotion to boost her support, frequently bursting into tears as she pledged to continue her dead husband's policies. He, Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike, was shot dead by a man dressed as a Buddhist monk in 1959. Her opponents and critics called her the "weeping widow" . Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-September 26, 1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Decline

By 1976, Bandaranaike was more respected abroad than at home. Her great triumph that year was to become chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement and host the largest heads of state conference the country had ever seen. Despite her high standing internationally, she was losing Sri Lankan support rapidly amid allegations of corruption and against the background of a rapidly declining economy . Nothing, it seemed, could save her. She suffered a crushing election defeat in 1977 and was stripped of her civic rights. The 1980s were her dark days - she became a political outcast rejected by the people who had once worshipped her. Banadaranaike spent the next 17 years in opposition warding off challenges to her leadership of the SLFP, even from her own children. Always the politician, she played her ambitious daughter, Chandrika, and son, Anura, against one another, holding on to control despite losing every subsequent general election. She finally met her match in Chandrika who outmaneuvered her mother to become Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1994, when a SLFP-led coalition won power in the general elections, and President the following year. 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (2005). ... The 1977 Sri Lankan election heralded the beginning of a new period of Sri Lankas history - a period of unprecendented violence. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (born June 29, 1945) was the 5th President of Sri Lanka and 4th Executive President of Sri Lanka (November 12, 1994 - November 19, 2005). ... Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike (born February 15, 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The Peoples Alliance (PA) is a front of political parties in Sri Lanka, formed in 1994. ... The Sri Lankan parliamentary election of 1994 marked the decisive end of 17 years of UNP rule and a revival of Sri Lankan democracy. ...

Bandaranaike became Prime Minister again, but the constitution had changed since her last tenure; she, as the Prime Minister was subordinate to her daughter, the President. She remained in office just a few months before her death, but had little real power. She died on election day, having cast her vote for the last time. A prime minister is the most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ...

Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka

D.S. Senanayake • Dudley Senanayake • John Kotelawala • S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike • W. Dahanayake • Dudley Senanayake • Sirimavo Bandaranaike • Dudley Senanayake • Sirimavo Bandaranaike • J.R. Jayewardene • Ranasinghe Premadasa • D.B. Wijetunga • Ranil Wickremasinghe • Chandrika Kumaratunga • Sirimavo Bandaranaike • Ratnasiri Wickremanayake • Ranil Wickremasinghe • Mahinda Rajapaksa • Ratnasiri Wickremanayake

The following is a list of Sri Lankan Prime Ministers: Don Stephen Senanayake (February 4, 1948 - March 26, 1952) Dudley Shelton Senanayake (March 26, 1952 - October 12, 1953) John Lionel Kotalawela (October 12, 1953 - April 12, 1956) Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (April 12, 1956 - September 26, 1959) Vijayananda Dahanayake (September... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sri_Lanka. ... D.S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake (October 20, 1884–22 March 1952) was an independence activist who formed the Sri Lankan United National Party. ... Dudley Shelton Senanayake (June 19, 1911 April 13, 1973) was a Sri Lankan politician who served as prime minister of Sri Lanka three times during the 1950s and 1960s. ... John Kotelawala Sir John Lionel Kotelawala CH (April 4, 1897 October 2, 1980) was a Sri Lankan politician, most notable for serving as prime minister of Sri Lanka from 1953 to 1956. ... Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-September 26, 1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). ... Wijeyananda Dahanayake (born 1902) was a Ceylonnese political figure. ... Dudley Shelton Senanayake (June 19, 1911 April 13, 1973) was a Sri Lankan politician who served as prime minister of Sri Lanka three times during the 1950s and 1960s. ... Dudley Shelton Senanayake (June 19, 1911 April 13, 1973) was a Sri Lankan politician who served as prime minister of Sri Lanka three times during the 1950s and 1960s. ... Junius Richard Jayewardene (September 17, 1906 November 1, 1996) was a Sri Lankan politician. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... D.B. Wijetunga Dingiri Banda Wijetunga (born on February 15, 1922) was the Governor of North Western province, Sri Lanka from 1988 to 1989, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from March 03, 1989 to May 07, 1993 and President of Sri Lanka from May 01, 1993 to November 12, 1994. ... Ranil Shriyan Wickremasinghe (born March 24, 1949) is a popular Sri Lankan politician. ... Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (born June 29, 1945) was the 5th President of Sri Lanka and 4th Executive President of Sri Lanka (November 12, 1994 - November 19, 2005). ... Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (born on May 5, 1933) is the 14th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and a veteran politician. ... Ranil Shriyan Wickremasinghe (born March 24, 1949) is a popular Sri Lankan politician. ... Percy Mahendra Mahinda Rajapaksa (born November 18, 1945) is the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and a Sri Lankan politician. ... Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (born on May 5, 1933) is the 14th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and a veteran politician. ...