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Gamini Dissanayake | |
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| 9thLeader of the Opposition | |
| In office 25 August 1994 – 24 October 1994 | |
| President | Dingiri Banda Wijetunga |
| Prime Minister | Chandrika Kumaratunga |
| Preceded by | Sirimavo Bandaranaike |
| Succeeded by | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Minister of Mahaweli Development | |
| In office 1977–1990 | |
| President | J.R JayawardenaRanasinghe Premadasa |
| Prime Minister | Ranasinghe PremadasaDingiri Banda Wijetunga |
| Member of Parliament forKandy District | |
| In office 1994–1994 | |
| Majority | 198,207 Preferential Votes |
| Member of Parliament forNuwara Eliya District | |
| In office 1989–1991 | |
| Majority | 73,790 Preferential Votes |
| Member of Parliament forNuwara Eliya-Maskeliya | |
| In office 1977–1988 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency Established |
| Succeeded by | Constituency Abolished |
| Member of Parliament forNuwara Eliya | |
| In office 1970–1977 | |
| Preceded by | D. J. Ranaweera |
| Succeeded by | Constituency Abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 March 1942 Kandy, Sri Lanka |
| Died | 24 October 1994(1994-10-24) (aged 52) Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Spouse | Shrima Dissanayake |
| Children | Navin,Mayantha, Varuni. |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Kandy, Wolfson College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Dissanayake Mudiyanse Ralahamilage Lionel Gamini Dissanayake,PC (known asGamini Dissanayake;Sinhala:ලයනල් ගාමිණි දිසානායක,Tamil:காமினி திஸாநாயக்க; 20 March 1942 – 24 October 1994) was a prominent Sri Lankan politician, a powerful minister of theUnited National Party, andLeader of the Opposition. He was designated as the UNP candidate in the1994 presidential election, but was assassinated during election campaign by theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
He was born inKandy as the second-born son of a family of seven children. His father wasAndrew Dissanayake, who served as aMember of Parliament and theParliamentary Secretary to the Minister ofNationalised Services and Shipping in theSri Lanka Freedom Party government ofS.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. His mother was Welegedara Samaratunga Kumarihamy fromKotmale. The wealthy Dissanayake family resided in bothKandy as well asNuwara Eliya. Dissanayake had his schooling at the prestigiousTrinity College, Kandy. He later completed anMPhil in International Relations at theWolfson College, Cambridge in 1992.[1]
In 1961, he enteredCeylon Law College and took his finals in 1966. He apprenticed underNeville Samarakoon,QC andcall to the bar anAdvocate in July 1967. He thereafter started his legal practice in theunofficial bar in the Colombo District Court as a junior to B. J. Fernando, PC. Later he went on totake silks as aPresident's Counsel in 1988.[1][2]
Following is father's legacy, he sought nomination from theSri Lanka Freedom Party for the1970 general elections from theNuwara Eliya electorate, but was refused. He instead contested from theUnited National Party (UNP) and was elected as a member of parliament underUnited National Party (UNP) candidature and was one of the 18 UNP members in the parliament at a time when his party has faced an humiliating defeat. However, he was unseated in an election petition and faced suspension of his civic rights for seven years. That year a modification of the law by Minister of Justice,Felix Dias Bandaranaike to benefitNanda Ellawala, allowed for Dissanayake to retain his civic rights and contest the by-election regaining his seat in parliament in 1972.[2]
He comfortably secured his Nuwaraeliya-Maskeliya multielectorate seat in the1977 general elections and was appointed as the minister of Mahaweli Development. Dissanyake spearheaded theMahaweli Development Project. This was a huge project which was expected to take 30 years to finish. But due to Dissanayake's skills he managed to finish the project within 6 years. The Mahaweli Development Project is the largest development project conducted in Sri Lanka after independence. The whole country was affected by the project which focused on irrigation, hydro power generation, agriculture, town & country development. Further it was criticised by the time as to introduce sinhala population into Tamil's motherland. Majority of the power generated for the local consumption is generated from these hydropower plants while an overwhelming majority of the rice cultivation in Sri Lanka is conducted in theseMahaweli areas.
He was the chairperson of theSri Lanka Cricket Board in the early 1980s and helped his country to gain the Test Status in cricket. He played a pivotal role in signing the Indoo-Lanka Peace Accord in 1987. In 1989 he was re elected as an MP from Nuwaraeliya District securing the highest percentage of preferential votes obtained by any UNP MP. He was the Minister of Estate Development during Premadasa regime. He was not awarded a portfolio in 1990 cabinet reshuffle and remained as a back-seat MP in the parliament. Dissanayake was accused of abduction of Prof. Ralph Bultjens. Prof Rohan Goonarathne in an interview with Hasitha Kuruppu told that Dissanayake did that as Bultjens in his lectures accused Dissanayake for swindling of money.[3] Later he was acquitted from the courts.
He played a major role in the aborted impeachment motion against President Premadasa and as a result was expelled from UNP in 1991. In the same year Dissanayaka joinedLalith Athulathmudali to form United National Democratic Front (DUNF) which was a rising political force of that era. Dissanayaka contested to Kandy District at 1993 provincial council elections and became a member of the Central Provincial Council. After the assassination of Athulathmudali, Dissanayake became the leader of DUNF.
Later he rejoined UNP and was appointed to the parliament as a national list MP and was offered a vital portfolio in the Wijethunga Government. In 1994 PA came to power defeating UNP when Dissanayaka was re elected as a member of parliament from Kandy District. In a contest held among UNP MPs to choose the opposition leader Dissanayaka recorded a comfortable victory over previous prime ministerRanil Wickramasinghe.
When PresidentD.B. Wijetunga indicated he would not run in the1994 presidential election, Dissanayake was selected as the UNP candidate. At the same time he was the Leader of the Opposition in parliament. HIs presidential ambition was cut short when he was assassinated by afemale suicide bomber of theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) while he was addressing an election meeting at Thotalanga.[4][5] Government of India deputed Salim Ali IPS of CBI andProfessor T D Dogra of All India Institute of Medical Sciences to assist the investigations of Gamini Dissanayake's assassination.[6] His wifeSrima Dissanayake ran in his stead, but was defeated byPeople's Alliance candidate and Prime MinisterChandrika Kumaratunga.
Gamini Dissanayake married Srima Lenaduwa in 1968. They had two sons, who are active in politics, Navin and Mayantha. His eldest sonNavin was the Cabinet Minister of State Management Reforms in PresidentMahinda Rajapakse's Government and Member of Parliament forNuwara Eliya District; he was non-cabinet Minister of Investment Promotion too.Mayantha contested for the2010 General Election forKandy District as a UNP candidate.
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