Ranasinghe Premadasa

1 year old R. Premadasa with his parents in 1925.

R.Premadasa in 1930.

R. Premadasa was born on 23 June 1924 at Dias Place, Colombo 11, to the family of Richard Ranasinghe (Ranasinghe Mudalali) of Kosgoda and Jayasinghe Arachchige Ensina Hamine of Batuwita, Horana. R. Premadasa was the oldest of five children, three sisters, and one brother. He received his primary education at Harvard Girls’ School, Dam Street, Colombo, post primary education at St. Lorenz's College, Skinner's Road South (Now Sri Sangaraja Mawatha, Maradana) and his secondary education at St. Joseph's College, Colombo. While attending school, he attended the Hewavitharana Daham Pasala. He completed his education at St. Joseph's College, during the Le Goc era. He satisfied all the requirements for registering at the University of London for higher studies. However, he gave up this opportunity to engage in higher studies and chose path of social service for the welfare of the poor and down- trodden.

He, the architect of the Sri Sucharitha Movement, a volunteers organisation with the objectives of uplifting the economic, social and spiritual development of the low income people living in shanty areas of the capital. He was the full-time organizer of the community development project of the area in 1939. These youth who enrolled in his development movement refrained from taking liquor and avoided smoking and gambling. Premadasa too was a teetotaler.

Allying with late A. E. Goonesinghe, the founder leader of the Ceylon Labour Movement, he commenced his political life. He had several ups and downs in that era. He had been the Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council while functioning as a member of San Sebastian's Ward. Joining hands with late Dudley Senanayake, he joined the UNP and contested Dr. N. M. Perera unsuccessfully in the Ruwanwella constituency at the general election held in 1956. After his first failure to enter Parliament, he, in the process of reorganising the UNP, visited every nook and corner of the country, while also being the secretary of the Religious Affairs Committee of the Buddhist Council appointed by the government to organize the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi celebrations.

The following year he joined the protest march to Kandy on October 3, which had been organized by the late J.R. Jayewardene (later President). This march was disrupted at Imbulgoda by some thugs led by S. D. Bandaranayake. He was elected the third Member of Parliament for Colombo Central in the Dudley Senanayake government at the general election held in March 1960, but failed in the July general election. Later he was elected Member for the Cinnamon Gardens Ward in the Colombo Municipal Council.

Premadasa initially supported the Labour Party, then headed by A. Ekanayake Gunasinha. He was elected Deputy Mayor of Colombo in 1955.[3] Having realized that the Labour Party in the 1950s didn't have a very promising future, in 1956 Premadasa joined the moderate United National Party,[3] and contested 1956 parliamentary election for Ruwanwella Electorate was defeated.[4] He became the first non-Govigama politician to reach to the highest levels in democratic, post-independence Sri Lanka.

Presidential Standard of Ranasinghe Premadasa

He was elected second Executive President of the country when late J. R. Jayewardene stepped down, and led the UNP to victory at the general election held in 1989. The country faced both a civil war in the north and a communist insurgency in the south at the time, both key issues Premadasa concentrated on, with particularly ruthless actions against the insurgents.[6] The security forces brutally put down the revolt and killed many of its leaders.

Premadasa also concentrated on a grassroots-level economic development drive, focusing on the provision of housing, poverty alleviation and the upliftment of the poor. He encouraged the building of model villages with clean water, transport infrastructure, schools and health centers. He encouraged the establishment of small-scale industries (mostly garment-related) in poor areas by giving factory owners low-interest loans and a share in textile quotas for the United States and Europe.[3] The Gam Udāwa programme is one of his best-known achievements in this area, along with the Janasaviya programme that is today part of the Samurdhi scheme. His proposal to declare 1987 as the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless was unanimously accepted at the 37th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ranasinghe Premadasa and Diyawadana Nilame Neranjan Wijeyeratne with Raja Elephant

His handling of the country's civil war was less successful. In the north, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were facing off against the Indian Peace-Keeping Force- the Indian presence on the island was unpopular, and Premadasa requested India to pull out its troops. In order to force the IPKF to leave the island, he authorized a clandestine operation to supply arms to LTTE, a collusion that came to light in the report published by the Sri Lankan Presidential Commission to inquire into the 1992 assassination of Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa.[7] While the IPKF was recalled by New Delhi in 1990, the government's war with the LTTE resumed, beginning Eelam War II, which ended in a stalemate five years later. The 1990 massacre of Sri Lankan Police officers, which occurred after the policemen were asked to surrender to the LTTE in Batticaloa at Premadasa's request, was later established to have been performed with the same weapons he had supplied them.[8][9]

In September 1991, Premadasa faced an impeachment in parliament led by his two formidable rivals in the UNP, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake. He defeated it by adjourning Parliament and the Speaker Mohamed dismissed the impeachment stating a lack of signatures after several of the parliamentarians who supported it withdrew their support after facing threats.[10] He then expelled Athulathmudali and Dissanayake from the party, who then joined to form the Democratic United National Front (DUNF).[11][12]

In 1992, he changed the country's name in English from Sri to Shri Lanka on the advice of soothsayers, who predicted it would improve the country's fortunes.[13] The spelling was restored after his assassination in 1993.[13]

Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed along with 17 others on May 1, Saturday, 1993, around 12.45 p.m. during UNP's May day rally in Colombo, by an LTTE suicide bomber. The explosion took place at Armour Street-Grandpass Junction in Hulftsdorp, Colombo while President Premadasa was unofficially supervising the procession as it was heading towards the Galle Face Green from Sugathadasa Stadium. The suicide bomber was later identified as Kulaveerasingam Veerakumar alias 'Babu', a close friend of the President's valet E. M. P. Mohideen. He rode a bicycle towards the President, left it near the President's Range Rover and walked towards the President when security personnel attempted to stop him. Despite this, Mohideen allowed him to get close to the President, when Veerakumar detonated the explosive device. The site of the explosion was cleaned within hours before a proper investigation was conducted. The May Day parade continued even after the explosion for some time.[14]

Another 38 people were injured in the bombing including seven who were seriously wounded. An island-wide curfew was imposed hours after the assassination. Prime minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga sworn in as the new acting-president in the afternoon. The government did not announce the death of President Premadasa until 6 p.m. local time when state television Rupavahini broadcast a tape of BBC's report of the incident. A period of national mourning was announced until the funeral. Police claimed that they recovered the severed head of a young man suspected to be the bomber, which found to have a cyanide suicide capsule, bearing LTTE tradecraft in his mouth.[15]

The climax of the 1993 Indian action thriller film Gentleman was rewritten by director S. Shankar based on the assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa after a request by film producer Kunjumon.[16] The film was in post production stage when Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated and the film was released on 30 July 1993.[17]

In 1960, he married Hema Wickramatunge, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wickramatunge Arachchige Charles Appuhamy of Bandarawela, on June 23, 1964. The son, Sajith, and daughter, Dulanjali, were born to this couple.[5]

• List of political families in Sri Lanka
• Sajith Premadasa

• Website of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
• Official Website of United National Party (UNP)
• Remembering Premadasa
• Methek Kathawa Divaina