Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). A prime minister may be either: the chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives...

He was the husband of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and father of Chandrika Kumaratunga, the current President of Sri Lanka and Anura Bandaranaike, current Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka. Sirimavo Bandaranaike a 3 time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (April 17, 1916 - October 10, 2000) was a politician from Sri Lanka. ... Mrs. ... Anura Bandaranaike is a Sri Lankan politician and Speaker of the 11th Parliament. ...

A lawyer educated in England, he entered politics as a member of the United National Party and rose to hold a cabinet position.As a young lawyer he became active in the United National Party (UNP) and from 1931 to 1951 served the party in legislative and ministerial posts. In 1951 Bandaranaike led his faction, the Sinhala Maha Sabha, out of the UNP and established the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Bandaranaike had organized the Sinhala Maha Sabha in 1937 in order to promote Sinhalese culture and community interests. Winning the 1956 elections at the head of a four-party coalition, he became prime minister. As such, Bandaranaike made Sinhalese, instead of English, the official language of the country and promoted socialist, non-Western policies that profoundly changed the course of Ceylonese politics in the following decades.Since the 1950s, SLFP platforms have reflected the earlier organization's emphasis on appealing to the sentiments of the Sinhalese masses in rural areas. To this basis has been added the antiestablishment appeal of nonrevolutionary socialism. The United National Party (UNP, Sinhalese: එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය (pronounced Eksath Jathika Pakshaya), Tamil: ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி) is a political party in Sri Lanka. ... The Sinhala Maha Sabha were a political party in Sri Lanka (Ceylon at the time) founded by Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in 1937, in order to promote Sinhalese culture and community interests. ... The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Sri Lanka Nidahas Pakshaya) is a political party in Sri Lanka, led by Chandrika Kumaratunga. ... Sinhala (or Sinhalese) is the language spoken by the Sinhalese, the majority of the people living in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

On the sensitive issue of language, the party originally espoused the use of both Sinhala and Tamil as national languages, but in the mid-1950s it adopted a "Sinhala only" policy. As the champion of the Buddhist religion, the SLFP has customarily relied upon the socially and politically influential Buddhist clergy, the sangha, to carry its message to the Sinhalese villages. Sinhala (or Sinhalese) is the language spoken by the Sinhalese, the majority of the people living in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ...

As prime minister, he took a neutralist stance in foreign affairs; domestically, he was faced by economic problems and disputes over languages.

He was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959, and his wife, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, assumed leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party,she became the world's first woman Prime Minister and held the post for three times.

This page incorporates text from the Library of Congress's Country Studies series. Library of Congress, Jefferson building The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. ... The Country Studies series is a collection of books by the United States government on the history, politics, and economics of foreign countries. ...