The 54th death anniversary commemoration of D. A. Rajapaksa will be held near his statue in Tangalle with the participation of his family members today, November 7.
Rajapaksa represented the Beliatta electorate in the Hambantota district from 1947 to 1965. A founding member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Land in Wijeyananda Dahanayake’s Government, he is the father of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
D.A. Rajapaksa was born on November 5, 1905 in a hamlet called Medamulana and had his early education at Mandaduva School in Weerakatiya and secondary education at Richmond College, Galle.
He captained the Richmond College cricket team for three years. He married Dandina Samarasinghe Dissanayake Palatuwe Hamine. The couple had nine children: Chamal, Jayanthi, Mahinda, Chandra, Basil, Gotabaya, Dudley, Preethi and Gandani.
After the demise of his brother D.M. Rajapaksa, the politically influential people in the area insisted that D.A. Rajapaksa should contest the by-election. He won the seat at the by-election and was included in the Committee on Agriculture and Land in the State Council.
This gave him a good opportunity to tackle the problem of landlessness of the peasantry of Giruvapattuva. At the first Parliamentary General Elections in 1947, Rajapaksa contested in Beliatta from the United National Party (UNP) and obtained 14,007 votes with a majority of 8,022 and won the seat.
When S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, disgruntled over the policies of the UNP, left the party to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in 1951, several parliamentarians, including D.A. Rajapaksa followed S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike when he crossed the floor of the House to the Opposition benches on July 12, 1951.
The Rajapaksas supported Bandaranaike at the General Election of 1952, winning the Beliatta electorate for the SLFP where he defeated his opponent by a majority of 17,382 votes.
Later on, in the historic General Election of 1956, Rajapaksa won the seat contesting from the SLFP with 26,215 votes, which was 15,335 votes more than the Opposition.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Beliatta and appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Lands and Land Development.
He died on November 7, 1967 at the age of 62.