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N. M. Perera | |
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| එන්. එම්. පෙරේරා | |
 | |
| 1stLeader of the Opposition | |
| In office 19 April 1956 – 5 December 1959 | |
| Prime Minister | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike |
| Preceded by | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike |
| Succeeded by | C. P. de Silva |
| In office 14 October 1947 – 8 April 1952 | |
| Prime Minister | D. S. Senanayake Dudley Senanayake |
| Succeeded by | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 10 May 1970 – 2 September 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Sirimavo Bandaranaike |
| Preceded by | U. B. Wanninayake |
| Succeeded by | Felix Dias Bandaranaike |
| In office 11 June 1964 – 17 December 1964 | |
| Prime Minister | Sirimavo Bandaranaike |
| Preceded by | T. B. Ilangaratne |
| Succeeded by | U. B. Wanninayake |
| Mayor of Colombo | |
| In office 13 August 1954 – 28 February 1956 | |
| Preceded by | T. Rudra |
| Succeeded by | V. A. Sugathadasa |
| Member of theCeylon Parliament forYatiyantota | |
| In office 1960–1977 | |
| Preceded by | seat created |
| Succeeded by | K. Vincent Perera |
| Member of theCeylon Parliament forRuwanwella | |
| In office September 1947 – 1960 | |
| Preceded by | seat created |
| Succeeded by | H. G. Somabandu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1904-06-06)6 June 1904 |
| Died | 14 August 1979(1979-08-14) (aged 75) |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party | Lanka Sama Samaja Party |
| Spouse | Selina Perera |
| Alma mater | Ananda College,University College, Colombo,London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Economist |
Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, commonly known asDr. N. M. Perera (Sinhala එන්.එම්.පෙරේරා[enempereaira]; 6 June 1904 – 14 August 1979), was one of the leaders of the Sri LankanTrotskyistLanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He was the first Trotskyist to become a cabinet minister. He served two terms asMinister of Finance, another two asLeader of the Opposition, as well as one term as theMayor of Colombo.
Born to Nanayakkarapathirage Abraham Perera, a rent collector at 36 St Joseph's Street, inGrandpass,Colombo, and Johana Perera. He was the fifth of nine siblings, including five boys and four girls.[1]
Perera started his schooling in thevernacular section of St. Joseph's School, Grandpass and was later admitted to the English section. From there he spent a year at the Cathedral Boys' School, Mutwal a branch school ofS. Thomas' College, Mutwal,[2][3][4] then known as Cathedral Boys School, Mutwal. In 1919, he enteredS. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia and left in 1922 to joinAnanda College. At Ananda he playedcricket for the college team.
From 1922 to 1927, he studied at theUniversity College, Colombo where he was a contemporary ofJ. R. Jayewardene, future president of Sri Lanka. Perera graduated with aBSc degree from theUniversity of London External System. Thereafter he left for theUnited Kingdom, to enter theLondon School of Economics in 1927. He was in London from 1927 to 1933, where he studied under ProfessorHarold Laski, gaining hisPhD with the thesis on theConstitution of the German Weimar Republic. This was followed by a further comparative study, of the Constitutions of the UK, United States, France and Germany; which gained him aDSc from theUniversity of London. Perera was the first Ceylonese to gain a degree of Doctor of Science from theUniversity of London.[5]
Perera returned to Ceylon in 1933. The work done by Perera (as a member of theSuriya-Mal Movement) in theKegalle district during themalaria epidemic of 1934 and during the subsequent floods gained for him the support of the poor andcaste-oppressed people of the area, who called himParippu Mahathmaya after thedhal (orparippu) he distributed as relief supplies. In 1935 Perera was one of the founder members of the LSSP and played a leading role in the party's Trotskyist activities between 1936 and 1940.
In 1936, he contested the Ruwanwella constituency — which at the time comprised the Thun Korale areas of Yatiyantota, Ruwanwella, and Deraniyagala, along with parts of the present Galigamuwa electoral division — as a candidate of the LSSP. His opponent was the incumbentMolamure Kumarihamy of theMeedeniya Walauwa, thefeudalmanor which had tremendous power over the poor people of theSabaragamuwa area at the time. He went on to hold this seat, or its Yatiyantota portion after the division of the constituency, continuously until 1977. Following his election, he andPhilip Gunawardena, the other LSSP member of the State Council, used it as a platform to voice the party's policy and objectives for complete independence from Britain, in contrast to theCeylon National Congresswhich advocated for self-rule.In 1937, he founded the Ratmalana Railway Workers' Union and served as the LSSP delegate to that year’s session of theIndian National Congress.[6]
With the outbreak ofWorld War II, theBoard of Ministers declared its support to theBritish government. The LSSP opposed the move, claiming that it was an imperialist war and organized protest. In 1939, Perera formed the All-Ceylon Estate Workers' Union and lead a militant strike at Mooloya Plantation in January 1940. Perera and Gunawardana voted against the war budget in the State Council. Following complaints from plantation owners, theGovernor of Ceylon declared LSSP activities against thewar effort to besubversive and order the police to arrest the leaders of the LSSP. On 18 June 1940, N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena, andColvin R. de Silva were arrested by the police withEdmund Samarakkody being arrested the following day, butLeslie Goonewardene evaded arrest. The LSSP called for a gathering to protest the arrest and carried out a protest march which was dispersed by the police with abaton charge followed by further arrests. LSSP leaders were detained atWelikada Prison but was later transferred toBogambara Prison after it was suspected that they were planning a hunger strike. On 5 April 1942 during theEaster Sunday Raid, Perera along with several other imprisoned LSSP members escaped from prison. He was smuggled intoBombay in July 1942 and worked with theBolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma (BLPI) in theIndian Independence Movement. He was arrested in Bombay in July 1943, deported to Ceylon, and sentenced by the Magistrate’s Court of Kandy to six months of rigorous imprisonment for escaping custody. He was held in Badulla for the remainder of the war and was released in 1945.[5][6]
During the war, the LSSP experienced several internal divisions. The first occurred in 1940 with the split of the pro-Moscow faction led byS. A. Wickremasinghe, M. G. Mendis,Pieter Keuneman, and A. Vaidialingam. This was followed by a second split over the opposition of N. M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena to the proposed merger with theBolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma, which led to the formation of theWorkers' Opposition. After the war, this faction rebuilt the LSSP as an independent political party, with N. M. Perera emerging as its leader.[6]
Perera served as president ofAll Ceylon United Motor Workers' Union, andUnited Corporations and Mercantile Union of theCeylon Federation of Labour (CFL). During the 1946general strike, the striking workers appointed him as their chief negotiator. .
Having lost their seats in the State Council due to their imprisonment, the LSSP contested the1947 general elections under the new constitution. N. M. Perera was elected fromRuwanwella and the LSSP gained the 28 seats in parliament, becoming the second largest representation, making Perera theLeader of the Opposition. He opposed theCeylon Citizenship Act. On reunification with theBolshevik Samasamaja Party (BSSP), he remained with the LSSP when theViplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP) split off underPhilip Gunawardena. He served as opposition leader until fresh elections were called in 1952. In the1952 general elections, he was re-elected, but the LSSP became the second largest party in the opposition andS. W. R. D. Bandaranaike became the opposition leader.[6]
In 1954, the LSSP won a string oflocal government elections which included nine Village Councils and three Urban Councils and the Colombo Municipal Council, where N. M. Perera was electedMayor of Colombo, only non-United National Party-politician to win that office after 1945. He was Mayor for two years, before he was voted out of office on 28 February 1956 by the United National Party with the support ofRanasinghe Premadasa of theCeylon Labour Party.[6][7][8]
N. M. Perera contested the1956 general elections, where theSri Lanka Freedom Party of the Bandaranaike gained landslide victory over the United National Party which was reduced to eight seats in parliament. Once again N. M. Perera was elected leader of the opposition in parliament, a post he held until 1959. He was a strong opponent of theOfficial Language Act, and narrowly escaped death when a bomb was thrown on stage when he was addressing a crowd at the Old Town Hall.[6]
He was re-elected in the1960 March general election and the1960 July general election fromYatiyantota and sat in the opposition. When LSSP was divided over possible government participation in the early 1960s, Perera was the principal leader of the wing that wanted to enter into government with theSri Lanka Freedom Party, which led to LSSP's expulsion from theFourth International in 1964.
A short lived coalition government was formed in 1964 known as theUnited Front and Perera was appointedMinister of Finance in it. He had to step down as minister when the United Front was defeated in the1965 general elections and sat in the opposition having retained his seat in parliament.
He was reappointed as Minister of Finance in 1970, when theUnited Front won the1970 general elections. He served as Minister of Finance from 10 May 1970 to 2 September 1975. Facing a substantial budget deficit, Perera first attempted to increase government revenue through taxation. In October 1970, he initiated thedemonetization of the 50- and 100-Rupee notes in an effort to flush out black money. The measure, however, failed to generate significant additional revenue and imposed considerable operational costs on the Central Bank. The1971 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Insurrection took the leftist government by surprise and threatened to topple it. In the aftermath, Perera advanced a program of nationalizing private property and industries. These measures, however, discouraged both domestic and foreign investment, while unemployment and inflation remained unresolved.[9][10][11] By 1974, the budget deficit had reached $195 million, and Ceylon was facing a severe foreign exchange crisis. This situation was partly due to global economic pressures such as the1973 oil crisis and partly the result of domestic policies — including the Bandaranaike government’s efforts to centralize the economy and enforce price controls — which contributed to declining revenues from coconut, rubber, and tea exports, as well as increased food-importation costs. In September 1975, N. M. Perera and other LSSP ministers were dismissed by Prime MinisterSirima Bandaranaike. In the1977 general elections, which theUnited National Party won with a landslide of 5/6 of the seats, the LSSP, along with other leftist parties, suffered a complete defeat and lost all parliamentary representation. Perera himself lost his long-held Yatiyantota seat.[6]
From 1977 to 1978, he served as Chairman of theBoard of Control of Cricket in Sri Lanka, and worked hard to obtaintest status for Sri Lanka. In 1978, he represented Sri Lanka at theUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development as an adviser. He died on 14 August 1979 at the Colombo National Hospital following gall-bladder complication, aged 75 and his funeral gathered large crowds.[12][13]
He married fellow LSSP founding member and later party secretary,Selina Margaret Peiris on 6 March 1936. N. M. Perera was an avidcricket fan and a keen tennis player.[14]
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