Wijeyananda Dahanayake

Wijeyananda Dahanayake (විජයානන්ද දහනායක விஜயானந்த தகநாயக்கா; 22 October 1902 – 4 May 1997) was a Sri Lankan politician.

He became a teacher at St. Aloysius' College, Galle before entering active politics having been elected to the Galle Municipal Council in 1939 as a leftist and served as Mayor of Galle.

He was elected the first Mayor of Galle in 1939 and served till 1941.

When World War II started in the far-east, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party refused to support the British war effort.

Dahanayake was prosecuted by the police for organising a strike during the height of war, which angered the British colonial administration.

He represented himself in court without a lawyer and won against the crown prosecution.

In 1944, he was elected to the State Council of Ceylon and was thereafter elected to the House of Representatives.

As a member of the Trotskyite Lanka Sama Samaja Party, he was elected to the Galle Municipal Council from the Kumbalwella Ward, which he held until 1944.

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.

That year, when the Lanka Sama Samaja Party split, he joined the Bolshevik–Leninist Party led by Dr Colvin R. de Silva.

He supported the education reforms initiated by C. W. W. Kannangara by collecting a large number of signatures for a public petition in support of the reforms that ushered equal opportunities for education for all children in the island.

He served as the member of parliament from Galle from 1947 to 1977, with a brief interval in 1960.

In 1947, he was only one of three members who voted against the Soulbury Constitution which enabled self rule for Ceylon as an independent Dominion inside the British Commonwealth.

He contested the 1947 general elections from the Bolshevik–Leninist Party in the Galle electorate.

With a campaign in which he did not spend any money, he won against the wealthy H. W. Amarasuriya contesting from the United National Party and was elected to the House of Representatives.

In parliament, he gave a thirteen and half-hour speech during the first budget speech, which is the record for the longest speech.

He later re-joined the Lanka Sama Samaja Party under Dr N. M. Perera and successfully contested the 1952 general elections from the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and retaining his seat.

He was expelled from the party for hosting a reception for the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake's visit to Galle.

In 1955, he gave leadership to the nationalist movement that sort for "Sinhala only" under a new party called the "Basha Peramuna" (Language Front) which aligned with the alliance Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (Peoples United Front) led by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike which contested the 1956 general elections and won a landslide victory against the ruling United National Party which was reduced to eight seats in parliament.

In 1956, he was appointed to the Cabinet of Ministers as the Minister of Education.

He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from September 1959 to March 1960.

Born to as twin to a conservative family in Galle as Don Wijeyananda Dahanayake, he was educated at Richmond College, Galle and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia.

He unexpectedly succeeded S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike as Prime Minister when the latter was assassinated on 26 September 1959.

His tenure as the caretaker Prime Minister was short as he was unable to keep together the alliance formed by Bandaranaike.

He dismissed the Cabinet of Ministers and called for fresh elections, for which he formed his own party.

Although he lost his parliamentary seat in the 1960 March elections, he regained it in the general election that followed two months later.

Sitting in the opposition from 1960 to 1965, he served as Minister of Home Affairs from 1960 to 1965 and again sat in opposition from 1970 to 1977.

He then served as Minister of Co-operatives from 1986 to 1988.

He is noted for having contested from almost every major party of his time and has the record for the longest speech in parliament, lasting thirteen and half hours.

He was born as a twin in Dangedera, Richmond Hill, Galle and was named Don Wijeyananda Dahanayake after the Wijayananda Pirivena.

His father was Don Dionesius Panditha Sepala Dahanayake, was a Muhandiram, who later served as the Kackckeri Mudliyar of Galle and was a scholar in oriental languages.

His twin brother was Kalyanapriya Dahanayake.

Dahanayake received his education first at Rippon Girls' School, Galle and then at the Government English Training School on Thurstan Road, Colombo; before moving to Richmond College, Galle and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia for his secondary education.

He joined the teaching staff of St. Aloysius' College, Galle, where he taught English, mathematics, history and geography and received training at the teaching college in Maharagama.

In addition he coached the college athletics and the junior cricket teams and organized the English Literary Union and the Debating Society.

He also organized student protests against the British colonial administration.

Dahanayake became active in pre-independence politics while serving as a teacher and switched to full-time politics.