DA Rajapaksa (1905–1967) was a Sri Lankan politician and independence fighter. He is known as the father of two Presidents of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He died on 7 November 1967 due to prolonged illness.
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Wiki/Biography
Don Alvin Rajapaksa was born in Medamulana Walawwa, Beliatta, Hambantota District, British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on Sunday, 30 March 1905 (age 62 years; at death). After completing his primary education at Mankadavu School in Weerakatiya, DA Rajapaksa joined Richmond College, Galle, where he completed his higher education. During his studies, DA Rajapaksa used to help his father in his coconut farms and paddy fields.
Family
DA Rajapaksa was born into a Catholic family of Malacca origin.
parents and siblings
His father, Don David Rajapaksa, was a Vidane Ararachi, an influential position given to a person in the Ihala Walikada Korale during the colonial era in Ceylon. His mother, Donna Gimara Ratnayake Weerakone, was a member of an elite family in Upper Beligale. He had three siblings named Don Mathew Rajapaksa, Don Coronelis Rajapaksa and Dona Carolina Bandara Rajapaksa (deceased). Don Coronelis Rajapaksa was a coroner (a judicial officer). Don Mathew Rajapaksa was a politician who died in 1945.
wife and children
His wife’s name is Dandina Samarasinghe Dissanayake (deceased).
A photo of DA Rajapaksa and Dandina Rajapaksa
The couple has 6 sons namely Chamal Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, Dudley Rajapaksa and Chandra Tudor Rajapaksa, and three daughters, Gandini Rajapaksa, Jayanti Rajapaksa and Preeti Rajapaksa. Chamal Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the President of Sri Lanka. Basil Rajapaksa was the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka. Dudley Rajapaksa is Vice President of QA/RA/Technical Services at Berlin Heart GmbH. Chandra Tudor Rajapaksa died in July 2022. Gandini Rajapaksa died on 8 May 2017. Jayanti Rajapaksa is a former member of Parliament and former Deputy Minister of Water Supply and Drainage. Preeti Rajapaksa was a teacher.
A photo of Chamal Rajapaksa (centre) with Gotabaya Rajapaksa (right) and Mahinda Rajapaksa (left)
A photograph of Basil Rajapaksa with Mahinda Rajapaksa (middle) and Gotabaya Rajapaksa (right)
A picture of Dudley Rajapaksa
A photo of Chandra Tudor Rajapaksa
Religion
DA Rajapaksa was a Catholic; However, the Rajapaksa family later changed their religion to Buddhism due to political reasons.
freedom fighter
DA Rajapaksa and his elder brother DM Rajapaksa participated in several anti-British campaigns. DA Rajapaksa, along with his brother, participated in the Surya-Mal movement, which began on 11 November 1933.
livelihood
Politics
DA Rajapaksa’s association with politics began when he helped his elder brother Don Mathew Rajapaksa in extensively campaigning for the State Council elections in Hambantota in 1936, which Don Mathew won. After Don Mathew died of a heart attack in 1945, the people of Hambantota demanded that DA Rajapaksa should fill his elder brother’s position in the State Council, following which Rajapaksa contested the Hambantota constituency in a 1945 by-election in Sri Lanka. Fought and won. Reportedly, DA Rajapaksa won the seat in the State Council unopposed because no one contested from the Hambantota constituency in honor of Don Mathew Rajapaksa. After entering the Council of State on 8 August 1945, DA Rajapaksa became a member of the Executive Committee on Agriculture and Lands. In 1947, he contested and won the Ceylon parliamentary election from the Beliatta constituency (created after the Hambantota constituency was divided into Beliatta and Tissamaharama constituencies) as a United National Party (UNP) candidate by a margin of 8,022 votes. On 12 July 1951, DA Rajapaksa and SWRD Bandaranaike left the UNP and founded the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) on 2 September 1951. During the 1952 Ceylon parliamentary elections, the SLFP managed to gain only nine seats, of which DA Rajapaksa won one seat. seat. In the 1952 parliamentary elections, DA Rajapaksa contested the Beliatta constituency and won by a margin of 17,382 votes. In 1956, he contested the Ceylon general elections and won the election from the Beliatta electorate by a margin of 15,335 votes, after which he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Lands and Land Development. Later, DA Rajapaksa was offered the post of Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce, which he declined in favor of his nephew Lakshmana Rajapaksa; However, DA Rajapaksa had to take up the post of Deputy Minister of Lands, Irrigation and Agriculture after the people of Hambantota, led by a lawyer named Wickramasooriya, protested against his decision not to take up a ministerial appointment in the government. As Deputy Minister of Lands, Irrigation and Agriculture, DA Rajapaksa worked on eliminating the problem of farmers who became landless after Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948. He adopted a policy according to which landless low-income farmers in Giruvapattuwa, a part of his constituency, were given 2-hectare (5-acre) plots on lease for 99 years and middle-income farmers were given 4-20.2 hectare plots. A plot of land ranging from (10-50 acres) was given. On 99 year lease. His policies resulted in increased productivity of rice and coconut in Sri Lanka. As Deputy Minister, he supported the implementation of the Paddy Act, leading to the Act’s success. He further implemented policies that aimed to increase the productivity of citrus fruits in underdeveloped parts of Sri Lanka. In 1959, DA Rajapaksa was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Lands by Vijayananda Dahanayake, the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. However, he resigned from his post two weeks later due to Dahanayake’s dismissal of ministers. In March 1960, during parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka, DA Rajapaksa was defeated by DP Atapattu of the United National Party (UNP); However, after the fall of the UNP-led Sri Lankan government, elections were held again in July 1960. In the elections, DA Rajapaksa emerged victorious from the Beliatta constituency by a margin of 20,871 votes. In July 1960, DA Rajapaksa was offered a cabinet appointment when Sirimavo Bandaranaike, wife of SWRD Bandaranaike, became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka; However, this offer was rejected by DA Rajapaksa, who told him that he preferred to stay at his residence rather than the official residence “Mumtaz Mahal”. On 6 November 1962, DA Rajapaksa was appointed to fill the post of Deputy Chairman of Committees following the death of AMA Adhikari. In January 1964, he became Deputy Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, replacing Hugh Fernando. He remained the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament until he lost to the UNP candidate DP Atapattu in the Beliatta constituency in the 1965 general elections in Sri Lanka.
After losing the 1965 elections
After DA Rajapaksa lost the general elections in 1965, he not only lost his seat in the Sri Lankan Parliament but also the money he had earned. According to some sources, DA Rajapaksa had to sell his car and lease his farm to meet his family’s everyday needs.
Death
DA Rajapaksa died on 7 November 1967 after battling illness for a long time. Reportedly, since he had sold his vehicle, DA Rajapaksa could not be taken to the hospital in time and by the time a vehicle was arranged, his condition had deteriorated. He breathed his last in a hospital in Sri Lanka.
Facts/General Knowledge
- He is also known as the brave son of Buddhigama Podi Ralhami and Ruhuna.
- While studying at Richmond College, DA Rajapaksa was not only the captain of the school’s football team but also the vice-captain of the school’s cricket team.
- [BeforeDonMathewRajapaksa’sdeathin1945hegaveDRajapaksahispersonalbelongingswhichincluded18centsandafountainpen[1945मेंडॉनमैथ्यूराजपक्षेकीमृत्युसेपहलेउन्होंनेअपनानिजीसामानडीएराजपक्षेकोदेदियाथाजिसमें18सेंटऔरएकफाउंटेनपेनशामिलथा।
- On 19 February 1961, for the Sinhala newspaper Silumina, DA Rajapaksa wrote an article titled Katata Rahata Kurakkan in which he talked about his family, Kurakkan (a form of millet) and folk poems.
- After winning the elections in July 1960, DA Rajapaksa was offered a bribe of Rs 50,000 to leave the SLFP so that the coalition government in Parliament would fall, but he refused to accept the bribe despite his poor financial condition.
- On 6 November 2014, Mahinda Rajapaksa inaugurated the DA Rajapaksa Memorial Museum; However, in May 2022, during the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, angry protesters not only destroyed the monument but also Rajapaksa’s ancestral home.
DA Rajapaksa’s damaged statue
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn