“The Constitution is a sacred document. Do not play around with it. You will be cursed…”
Ananda Dissanayake, 22 February 1979, Parliamentary Hansard
Ananda Dissanayake was the SLFP Member of Parliament who shook the parliamentary chamber during J.R. Jayewardene’s administration, when there was virtually no effective opposition in Parliament. The recognised Opposition at the time was the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), while the SLFP was a minor party in Parliament. Although it had fewer seats, the SLFP was the main opposition party in terms of the number of votes it had received.
Dissanayake made this statement during the debate on the Second Amendment to the 1978 Constitution, which the J.R. Jayewardene government was seeking to pass.
The Second Amendment was introduced in 1979, just months after the 1978 Constitution came into effect. The Constitution was implemented in September 1978, while the Second Amendment was introduced in February 1979. At the time, the amendment was described as a “treacherous” constitutional amendment.
Under the 1978 Constitution, crossing over from one political party to another could result in an MP losing his or her parliamentary seat.
Chelliah Rajadurai had been elected to Parliament from the Tamil United Liberation Front at the 1977 general election, representing the Batticaloa electorate. The UNP had won eight of the 12 seats in the Eastern Province.
The UNP government needed TULF MPs to help counter the separatist Eelam concept that was already gaining ground in the North and East. Although the government could not bring over TULF MPs from the North, it hoped to increase the number of UNP seats in the East, where it had already won eight seats.
However, under the 1978 Constitution introduced by the UNP, an MP who crossed over from one party to another was supposed to lose his parliamentary seat.
The UNP therefore introduced the Second Amendment specifically to enable Chelliah Rajadurai to cross over from the Opposition to the Government without losing his seat.
The amendment was passed.
Rajadurai crossed over to the Government and became the Minister of Regional Development, thanks to the Second Amendment.
The curse uttered by Ananda Dissanayake over what the UNP had done came back almost exactly a decade later.
In 1994, after Chandrika Kumaratunga came to power, and again in 2005, when Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power, dozens of UNP MPs crossed over, contributing to the destruction of the UNP.
Even before that, in 1991, UNP leaders Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake brought an impeachment motion against President Ranasinghe Premadasa. The UNP split as a result.
The next constitutional amendment brought by J.R.’s Government, despite Opposition protests, was the 13th Amendment.
The 13th Amendment was introduced to establish Provincial Councils. SLFP MPs at the time said that those who raised their hands in support of the 13th Amendment would be cursed.
That curse, as the story goes, struck the UNP at the 1993 Provincial Council elections.
After 17 years of UNP rule, Chandrika Kumaratunga emerged from the SLFP as the Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council in 1993, before going on to defeat the UNP at the national level.
The next constitutional amendment brought by the UNP was the 15th Amendment, passed on 17 December 1988 — precisely when the 1988 presidential election was approaching.
By then, M.H.M. Ashraff’s newly formed Sri Lanka Muslim Congress was an emerging political force.
At the 1988 presidential election, SLFP candidate Sirimavo Bandaranaike managed to secure the support of Ashraff’s party.
Fearing that Ashraff would split the Muslim vote traditionally supporting the UNP, Lalith Athulathmudali took Ashraff to UNP presidential candidate Ranasinghe Premadasa.
Ashraff’s demand was to reduce the 12.5 per cent threshold introduced under the 1978 Constitution for a party to qualify for parliamentary representation under the proportional representation system to five per cent.
Under the proportional representation system established by the 1978 Constitution, a party had to obtain more than 12.5 per cent of the vote in an electoral district to win parliamentary representation.
For Ashraff, it would have been almost impossible for the Muslim Congress to contest the next general election on its own and win parliamentary seats under the 12.5 per cent threshold.
Ashraff succeeded in getting the threshold reduced to five per cent by exerting pressure on J.R. Jayewardene through Premadasa and Lalith.
After securing the change, Ashraff toured the East with Premadasa and Lalith.
The SLFP cursed the constitutional amendment at the time.
That curse, according to the political narrative, struck the UNP in 1994.
At the 1994 general election, neither the UNP nor the SLFP had a parliamentary majority sufficient to form a government on its own. Ashraff’s support therefore became decisive.
Ashraff’s party was able to win parliamentary seats because of the 15th Amendment. He decided to support Chandrika Kumaratunga.
The 17-year UNP government fell.
The JVP also won its first parliamentary seat in 1994 because of the 15th Amendment. Eventually, the JVP joined the SLFP-led alliance in bringing down UNP governments.
The next major constitutional amendment was the 18th Amendment, introduced by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government in 2010.
Mahinda brought the amendment to remove the restriction imposed by the 1978 Constitution that prevented a president from contesting the presidential election more than twice.
He wanted to contest for a third term.
When the 18th Amendment was introduced, the UNP, then in Opposition, cursed the move.
Mahinda secured the two-thirds majority needed to pass the amendment by bringing over UNP MPs.
He subsequently contested a presidential election after changing the Constitution — and lost.
He lost to his own party’s secretary, Maithripala Sirisena.
That was no ordinary curse.
Next came the 19th Amendment, introduced after Maithripala Sirisena became President in 2015. The UNP brought in the amendment to curtail the executive powers of the presidency and strengthen the position of the Prime Minister.
In the end, President Maithripala and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe clashed over the distribution of the powers altered by the 19th Amendment.
The Yahapalana government eventually collapsed.
Then came the 20th Amendment, brought by Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
This was a constitutional amendment introduced to enable one particular person to enter Parliament.
The 19th Amendment had barred dual citizens from being elected to Parliament. The 20th Amendment changed that provision, allowing Basil Rajapaksa to enter Parliament and subsequently become Finance Minister.
The Opposition at the time, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the JVP, said that those who supported the amendment would be cursed.
Basil entered Parliament.
He became Finance Minister.
The economy could not be managed.
A crisis emerged.
It was not only Basil who had to abandon power and leave. The Rajapaksa family as a whole was forced to relinquish power and leave.
Then Ranil Wickremesinghe became President and introduced the 21st Amendment, supposedly to catch the thieves.
But those who began catching the thieves through the powers provided by the 21st Amendment were the JVP.
In the end, even Ranil, who introduced the 21st Amendment, ended up facing imprisonment.
The former ministers and MPs of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna who raised their hands in support of the 21st Amendment are now living in fear that the JVP, having acquired the powers provided by that amendment, may use them to put them behind bars.
Looking at all this, there appears to be a mysterious secret behind the amendments made to the 1978 Constitution.
The amendments are introduced to strengthen the governments that bring them.
But what happens is that the very amendments introduced to strengthen those governments eventually contribute to the destruction of those governments or the parties running them.
So, the question now is:
“Will the 22nd Amendment being introduced by Anura’s government, amid Opposition protests, eventually destroy Anura and the JVP themselves?”
There is no way of knowing.
But one thing is clear: the 1978 Constitution has not been kind to those who have tried to play with it.
Perhaps the real mystery of 1978 is this:
Those who use the 1978 Constitution to consolidate power may eventually find the very same Constitution returning, disguised as karma, to haunt them.
