Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka).

He was the husband of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and father of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Anura Bandaranaike

A lawyer educated in England, he entered politics and rose to hold a cabinet position. In 1951 S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike led his faction, the Sinhala Maha Sabha, out of the ruling 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. 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.

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.

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 Talduwe Somarama , a dissident Buddhist monk.

This page incorporates text from the Library of Congress's Country Studies series.