W. Dahanayake
|
The Honourable Wijeyananda Dahanayake MP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| 5th Prime Minister of Ceylon | |
|
In office 26 September 1959 – 20 March 1960 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike |
| Succeeded by | Dudley Senanayake |
| Member of the Sri Lanka Parliament for Galle |
|
|
In office 20 December 1979 – 20 December 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | Albert de Silva |
| Succeeded by | Constituency Abolished |
|
In office 5 August 1960 – 18 May 1977 |
|
| Preceded by | W. D. S. Abeygoonawardena |
| Succeeded by | Albert de Silva |
|
In office 14 October 1947 – 5 December 1959 |
|
| Preceded by | Constituency Created |
| Succeeded by | W. D. S. Abeygoonawardena |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 October 1901 Galle, Sri Lanka |
| Died | 4 May 1997 (aged 95) Galle, Sri Lanka |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party |
Lanka Equal Society Party Ceylon Democratic Party United National Party |
| Alma mater |
S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Richmond College, Galle |
| Profession | Politician, Teacher |
Wijeyananda Dahanayake (Sinhalese: විජයානන්ද දහනායක Tamil: விஜயானந்த தகநாயக்கா; 22 October 1901 – 4 May 1997) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1959 to 1960.
He was born as a twin in the Galle and was named Don Wijeyananda Dahanayake. His father was Don Dionesius Panditha Sepala Dahanayake, a scholar and specialist in oriental languages. His twin brother was Kalyanapriya Dahanayake.
Dahanayake received his education from Richmond College in Galle and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He became a teacher after completing his secondary education.
Dahanayake became active in politics while serving as a teacher and switched to full-time politics. A Trotskyite, he was taken to courts by the British colonial administration for organizing a strike during the height of world war 2, but represented himself in court without a lawyer and won against the crown. He contested in a by-election to the State Council of Ceylon in 1944 from Bibile. Even though he lost to the bus magnate S.A. Peiris, he filed an election petition against his opponent and unseated him. He once again represented himself in court without a lawyer. In the following by-election, Dahanayake was elected to the State Council from Bibile. In 1947, he was only one of three members who voted against the Soulbury Constitution which enabled self rule for Ceylon as a dominion.
In 1947, he was re-elected to the newly formed Parliament of Ceylon. He retained the seat in the next two elections in 1952 and 1956. He was a member of the socialist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP).
With the landslide victory of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in the 1956 election in which the LSSP was part of the Bandaranaike's coalition, Dahanayake was appointed Minister of Education by Bandaranaike in 1956. In 1959, he became the acting leader of the house after the incumbent C. P. de Silva was taken to London for treatment after getting badly ill after consuming a glass of milk at a cabinet meeting.
...
Wikipedia