T. B. Ilangaratne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 29 May 1963 – 10 June 1964 | |
| Prime Minister | Sirimavo Bandaranaike |
| Preceded by | P. B. G. Kalugalla |
| Succeeded by | N. M. Perera |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Mudiyanselage Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne (1913-02-27)27 February 1913 Sri Lanka |
| Died | 21 May 1992(1992-05-21) (aged 79) Sri Lanka |
| Party | Sri Lanka Freedom Party |
| Spouse | Tamara Kumari Aludeniya |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Galagedera Vidyalaya, Galagedera, St. Anthony's College, Kandy |
| Occupation | Politician, author, dramatist, actor |
| Writing career | |
| Pen name | T. B. Ilangaratne |
Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Mudiyanselage Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne (27 February 1913 – 21 May 1992), popularly asT. B. Ilangaratne, was aSri Lankan politician, author, dramatist, and theater actor.[1] He was aMember of Parliament forKandy,Galaha,Hewaheta andKolonnawa in Colombo district. He served as the Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Labour, Housing, Social Services, Finance, Commerce, Food, Trade and Shipping and in other government positions in a career spanning three decades. He established theEmployees' Provident Fund,Ceylon Petroleum Corporation andSri Lanka Insurance Corporation and thePeople's Bank while in office.[2] As a writer, Ilangaratne is best known for writing the popularSinhala-language children's novelAmba Yaluwo (1957).
His novelsTilaka Saha Tilaka, Lasanda andNedeyo have been adapted as films andAmba Yaluwo was made into atelevision serial.[3]
Ilangaratne was born on 27 February 1913 inHataraliyadda, Ceylon as the fourth of the family's seven children. The family name of the father was 'Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Tikiri Mudiyanselage'. According to the surname of the mother party 'Ilangandavunda Mudiyanselage', he used the name 'Ilangaratne' and the full family name of the father party.[1] His father was a well-known general practitioner of traditional ophthalmology. He began attending school in 1917 at Galagedera Vidyalaya[4] and received his secondary education fromSt. Anthony's College, Kandy.[3] Ilangaratne wrote three plays while in school (Akikaru Putha,Himin Himin andAnda Nanda).
On 4 September 1944 Ilangaratne marriedTamara Kumari Aludeniya in Gampola.[4] His wife was elected as the member forKandy (1949-1952) andGalagedara (1970-1977). They had four children, Sandhya, Rohana, Upeksha and Udaya.
He died on 21 May 1992 at the age of 79.[1]
Ilangaratne left school after passing the London matriculation exam upon which he opted not to further his studies in London and joined the government service as aclerk in the General Clerical Service. In 1941, he tried his hand at acting, playing King Dhatusena in the play of the same name by Gunasila Witanansa.[1]
In 1947, Ilangaratne left his post in the General Clerical Service and contested theKandy electorate in the1947 general election as a socialist candidate, but lost toGeorge E. de Silva of theUnited National Party. The following year he successfully unseated George de Silva in an election petition that striped him of his civic rights and contested theby-election in the Kandy electorate as an independentsocialist candidate defeating de Silva's sonFredrick de Silva, he entered theHouse of Representatives of Ceylon and was sworn in on 18 May 1948. He soon had to step down due to an election petition that striped him of his civic rights and in the by-election that followed, his wifeTamara Ilangaratne contested and won the Kandy electorate in June 1949. JoiningS. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in his newly formedSri Lanka Freedom Party, Ilangaratne contested the1956 general election fromGalaha and re-entered to the House of Representatives in the landslide victory the Sri Lanka Freedom Party gained defeatingTheodore Braybrooke Panabokke. Prime Minister Bandaranaike appointed him tohis cabinet as theMinister of Labour, Housing and Social Services. He established theEmployees' Provident Fund for the benefit of employees in the private sector and had the Labour day declared. Following theBandaranaike assassination, Ilangaratne was appointedMinister of Home Affairs by the new Prime MinisterW. Dahanayake, serving from September 1959 to December 1959 when he was removed from the cabinet by Dahanayake. He contested and was elected in the general elections ofMarch 1960 andJuly 1960 fromHewaheta. He was appointed Minister of Commerce, Trade, Food and Shipping by Bandaranaike widowSirima Bandaranaike who became Prime Minister having led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the July election. In his tenor he established thePeople's Bank, theCeylon Petroleum Corporation, the government nationalized private insurance companies and formed theSri Lanka Insurance Corporation and nationalized theBank of Ceylon.
In 1963, he was appointedMinister of Finance and then Minister of Internal and External Trade in 1964. In 1964, the government nationalized private petroleum companies such asRoyal Dutch Shell, transferring its assets to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. He lost his seat in the1965 general election losing toM. A. Daniel from the United National Party. He returned to parliament from a by-election in 1967 from theKolonnawa electorate and sat in the opposition. He was re-elected in the1970 general election from Kolonnawa and was appointed to the cabinet with the portfolios of Foreign and Internal Trade, thereafter Trade and Public Administration and Home Affairs. In 1974 he served as acting prime minister. Ilangaratne retired from politics on 12 April 1986.[4]
Ilangaratne first published a play calledHaramitiya. Since then, he made the playsManthari Hamuduruwo,Nataka Ata,Mokada Mudalali andNikan Awa. He also produced the play based on W. A. Silva's novelRadala Piliruwa. Later, when the novel was made into a film, he had to write the screenplay as well. After the failure in politics in 1948, he was later introduced to film producerK. Gunaratnam by his friend lawyer S. Nadesan. Then he went to India in 1953 for filming and later got the opportunity to act in the filmWarada Kageda. Critics pointed out that Ilangaratne's innovative acting is due to the politics and satirical dialogue that accompanies the success of the film.[1]
After the success of the film, he was then involved in the filmRadala Piliruwa. He wrote the screenplay in the film and also played a minor role. In 1973, he wrote the screenplay of Titus Thotawatte's filmMangala.[1]
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