Rohana Wijeweera | |
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| 1stLeader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna | |
| In office 14 May 1965 – 13 November 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Saman Piyasiri Fernando |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Patabendi Don Nandasiri Wijeweera (1943-07-14)14 July 1943 Kottegoda,Matara, British Ceylon |
| Died | (1989-11-13)13 November 1989 (age 46) Borella, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Manner of death | Assassination byfirearm |
| Party |
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| Other political affiliations | Patriotic People's Front |
| Education | Goda Uda Government Senior School Dharmasoka College |
| Alma mater | Lumumba University |
| Occupation | CommunistMarxist–Leninist |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Battles/wars | |
Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera (Sinhala:පටබැඳි දොන් ජිනදාස නන්දසිරි විජෙවීර; 14 July 1943 – 13 November 1989),better known asRohana Wijeweera, was a Sri LankanMarxist–Leninist political activist, revolutionary, and founder of theJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP;transl. People's Liberation Front). Wijeweera led the party in two unsuccessful insurrections inSri Lanka, in1971 and1987 until his assassination.
He formed the JVP in 1965, with the intention of replacing theDominion of Ceylon with asocialist republic. The JVP opposedTamil self-determination as well as theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.[1]
Following theIndo-Lanka accord, the JVP, with the leadership of Wijeweera and a secondary faction, launched a military and social campaign with the aim of overthrowing the government of Sri Lanka. This included two majorinsurgencies, in 1971 and 1987–1989.
In 1989, the government of Sri Lanka then launchedOperation Combine with the intention of killing Wijeweera, along withUpatissa Gamanayake. While they succeeded in killing Wijeweera, the JVP maintained its identity as a political party and later joined a coalition government, and eventually in 2024 came into power.
Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera was born on 14 July 1943 (Bastille Day), to Patabendi Don Andris Wijeweera and Nasi Nona Wickramakalutota, who lived in Kottegoda, a coastal village situated close to Matara in southernSri Lanka and mostly belonged to theKarava caste hierarchy. The eldest in the family, he had a younger brother Ananda and a younger sister Chitranie.
His father, who ran a small business, was an active member of theCeylon Communist Party and very close to Dr.S. A. Wickramasinghe. He was disabled after an attack by thugs believed to be members of an opposing political party during the1947 Parliamentary election campaign for theHakmana electorate candidate Premalal Kumarasiri. Don Andris Wijeweera died in 1965.[2][3]
Wijeweera had his primary education at Goda Uda Government School in Kottegoda from 1947 to 1953. In 1954 he entered Goda Uda Government Senior School and was there until mid-1959. He enteredAmbalangoda Dharmashoka College in July 1959 to studyGCE Ordinary Level in the science stream. Although he passed the exam, gaining credit grades for some subjects, he was not able to continue his studies due to limited family finances.[4]
Having become active in the communist party, he applied and gained a scholarship to attend theLumumba University to study medicine and in September 1960 he went to theSoviet Union. He completed theRussian language examination within seven and a half months, obtaining a distinction, and spent his holidays travelling through the USSR. He also worked during this time as anagricultural worker in theMoldavian Republic. He worked through his medical studies well up to third year and also obtained a distinction in political economics in 1963.
In late 1963 he became ill and received medical treatment from a hospital in Moscow, but finally requested a full academic term of medical leave and returned to Ceylon. At that time theCommunist Party of Ceylon was divided into two groups which were pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet. A vocal supporter of the pro-Chinese wingCeylon Communist Party (Maoist), he did not get a visa to return to the USSR.[4]
Following his ideological dispute with the now revisionistCommunist Party of Soviet Union, Wijeweera became a functionary of theCeylon Communist Party-Peking Wing the pro-China faction of theCommunist Party of Sri Lanka. There he started an admiration forJosef Stalin and also forMao Zedong; he met with members of theStalinistLabour Party of Albania in 1965, as they visited Ceylon.[5]
Soon Wijeweera was impatient with the CCP Maoist leaders due to what he saw as their lack of revolutionary purpose, and formed his own movement on 14 May 1965 after a discussion held in a house at Akmeemana in theGalle district with like-minded youth. He visitedNorth Korea to broaden support for the newly formed movement.[6]
Initially identified simply as the "New Left", this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the 16 to 25-year-old range who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalition governments. It became popularly known as theNew Left Movement, aMarxist political party, but not Maoist.
After forming the political movement, Wijeweera named it Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). He conducted a series of political lectures for the purpose of educating the youths according to the Marxist-Leninist doctrine. These lectures were popularly known asJVP five classes, eventually became the key manifesto of their political ideology.[7]
Capturing state power for the purpose of implementing the JVP's socio-economic policies in the country was the key part of Wijeweera's political agenda. During the late 1960s, Wijeweera and the JVP consisted of disillusioned youths who believed that armed struggle is the most suitable way to a socialist revolution.
In 1970 while campaigning for the United Front ofSirimavo Bandaranaike in the general election, Wijeweera was arrested followingthe riot in front of the U.S embassy, but released shortly as the pro-socialist United Front won the elections.
In April 1971 JVP led an armed campaign known as the1971 April Uprising, a failed attempt to overthrow theDominion of Ceylon under the government ofPrime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. North Korean boats were arrested attempting to arm the JVP.
Wijeweera was arrested before the armed attack took place in April 1971. He was later brought before theCriminal Justice Commission (CJC) that was formed after the failed insurrection. The commission sentenced him to life imprisonment, after which he made an historic speech, stating "We May Be Killed But Our Voice Will Never Die", echoing "History Will Absolve Me" byFidel Castro at the end ofMoncada Barracks trial in 1953.[8] On appeal the sentence was reduced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment.
After the victory of the pro-United StatesUnited National Party in the 1977 elections, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed. The new government also tried to destroy its opposition from the pro-Soviet Union United Front.
After the ban on the party was lifted, the JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished third, with more than 250,000 votes (4%, as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million).[citation needed]
In 1987, the JVP launched a second insurrection. Unlike in 1971, this was not an open revolt, but alow intensity conflict withsubversion,assassinations, raids, and attacks on military and civilian targets.
In October 1989, following the arrest and interrogation of two leading JVP members, Wijeweera was arrested, who had been living on a tea estate inUlapane, masquerading as a planter under the name of Attanayake.
On 13 November 1989, Wijeweera, along withUpatissa Gamanayake were gunned down, but the actual circumstances remain a subject of speculation.[9][10] Several versions of his death were circulated following the incident. The Sri Lankan Army stated that he had been shot in a confrontation between members of the JVP and the Army when he was taken under custody to help look at a JVP safe house. A rumour circulated that he was taken to a cemetery, shot in the leg and then summarily executed by beingburnt alive in the crematorium,[11] The official line from Minister of State DefenceRanjan Wijeratne's press brief was that Wijeweera and a fellow JVP memberH.B. Herath had been taken to the safe house to help the Army locate part of the JVP's "treasure", while the search was in progress Herath had pulled out a gun and shot Wijeweera dead.[9] It is widely believed that it was a politically motivated assassination and that the Army, at the behest of the Government, was responsible for his death.[12][13] Indeed, the Government itself gave conflicting answers, Foreign MinisterA. C. S. Hameed corroborated Defence Minister Wijeratne's account that Herath had shot at Wijeweera, but states that the Army subsequently opened fire upon the two, killing both.[12]
In 1971 Wijeeweera wrote the bookA Few Experiences (ISBN 978-955-8696-25-5) regarding his experiences during the first JVP insurgency. It was originally written inSinhala[14] Wijeweera wrote "What is the answer for the Eelam Question" following the beginning of theSri Lankan Civil War.[citation needed]
Wijeweera married Srimathi Chitrangani, with whom he had four daughters and two sons. After his death in 1989, his widow and children handed themselves over to the Army Headquarters and the government assured protection for the family. They were housed at the staff quarters inSLN Dockyard inTrincomalee and later in 1999 were moved to staff quarters in the naval barracks at SLNSGemunu in Welisara where they have lived under state patronage.[15] In February 2015, theSecurity Council decided that there was no security threat and requested the family to vacate the naval quarters that they were occupying.[16]
In the 2020s, one of Wijeweera's sons, Uvindu Wijeweera, established a political party of his own, theDevana Parapura.[17]
The biographical film of Wijeweera's late life titledGinnen Upan Seethala was made in 2019. The film was directed by Anurudha Jayasinghe and popular actorKamal Addararachchi played Wijeweera's role.[18]
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Position Established | Leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 14 May 1965 – 13 November 1989 | Succeeded by |
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