COLOMBO (News 1st) – Today marks the 120th birth anniversary of S.W.R.D Bandaranaike the founder of SLFP. The anniversary celebrations took place opposite the Bandaranaike statue built at the Galle Face Green.

President Maithripala Sirisena who attended the event paid floral tributes to the statue this morning and left for the opening ceremony of the new city in Laggala. The ceremony was then held under the auspices of the former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga, Sunethra Bandaranaike together with their family members and senior members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

Addressing the event SLFP General secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara noted that S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike created a nationalist force that could follow the middle path between liberalization and socialism, called the SLFP. He noted that all SLFPers should come together and use this opportunity to rediscover the roots of Bandaranaike’s teachings.

Our cameras captured footage of Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike conversing with several politicians.

Speaking to reporters briefly following the event, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge stated that there are thieves and murders in the country who have used Bandaranaike’s policies for their own benefits and that they are the people who follow the real Bandaranaike policies.

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