Somawansa Amarasinghe
| Somawansha Amarasinghe | |
|---|---|
| සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහ | |
| 4th leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna | |
|
In office January 1990 – 2 February 2014 |
|
| Preceded by | Lalith Wijerathna |
| Succeeded by | Anura Kumara Dissanayaka |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1943 Payagala, Kalutara |
| Died | 15 June 2016 (aged 72–73) Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party | People’s Servants Party |
| Education | Kalutara Vidyalaya |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Religion | Buddhist |
Somawansha Amarasinghe (1943 – 15 June 2016) was a Sri Lankan politician and parliamentarian, who was the 4th leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, after Rohana Wijeweera, Saman Piyasiri Fernando and Lalith Wijerathna.
He was the leader of People’s Servants Party, established on June 2015, until his death.
Amarasinghe was a past pupil of Kalutara Vidyalaya, and was born in 1943 as the youngest in a family of four elder brothers and three sisters in Payagala, Kalutara. His father, John Amarasinghe, who was first served in the police and later joined to Department of Irrigation. Mother was a housewife. Before joined JVP, he served as a technical officer in Colombo Irrigation Department office and other branches at Galle, Kalmunai, Bibile and Rajangana. His wife is Srimathie Chitraganie Somawansa. His son is Isuru Amarasinghe, who currently live in England.
With the JVP classes conducted by Danoris Aiya in 1969, he influenced to become one of the leading political figures in Sri Lanka. He joined JVP in 1969, where he is much popular as Siri ayya alias Uncle Reggie alias Reginald Patrick among members. During many political meetings, he wore long-sleeved shirts and was well fluent in English. He conducted many rallies and maintained regular contacts with human rights, cultural and media circles all around Colombo, becoming prospects of future JVP hands. In JVP Insurrection of 1971, he was arrested and detained at the prison, being guilty for carrying the bag of bombs, where he met Wijeweera for the first time. Amarasinghe was also the best friend of Wijeweera in his last days.
Amarasinghe became a Politburo Member of the JVP in 1984. With insurrection starts in 1989, his wife and son were sent to Japan in April for safety, but returned home in September of the same year. But in many occasions, he sent his family to many parts of the world in many times for safety. He stayed with his JVP friends until Wijeweera was captured and other leaders were killed by the government. Matale Wicky alias Selva helped him escape in late 1990 from Sri Lanka.
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