Born in Sri Lanka, Banda attended Trinity College, Kandy, alongside his brother, Tony.
The two were convinced by teacher Hilary Abeyaratne to join the Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma, a Trotskyist organisation affiliated to the Fourth International.
[1] They spent a couple of years in Yugoslavia, the Fourth International at the time being supportive of Josip Broz Tito's regime.
[7] The WRP underwent a major split in 1985, with Healy's secretary alleging that he had sexually assaulted a large number of female members.
[5] This position differed from the majority of the Workers' Press group, and so Banda left that year to form the Communist Forum.
[11][12] Banda moved temporarily back to Sri Lanka, where he discussed politics with Colvin R. de Silva of the LSSP.