D. A. Rajapaksa

Don Alwin Rajapaksa (දොන් ඇල්වින් රාජපක්ෂ; டான் ஆல்வின் ராஜபக்ஷ; 5 November 1905 – 7 November 1967) was a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament who represented the Beliatta electorate in 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 was the father of two Sri Lankan Presidents; Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa was born on 5 November 1905 in a hamlet called Medamulana and had his early education at Mandaduva School in Weerakatiya.

His father Don David Rajapaksa, who held the post of Vidane Arachchi in Ihala Valikada Korale, sent him for secondary education to Richmond College, Galle.

Having completed his education, he helped his father managing the family estate, which consisted of paddy fields and coconut plantations.

He captained the Richmond College cricket team for three years.

He was married to Dandina Samarasinghe Dissanayake Palatuwe Hamine.

The couple had nine children: Chamal, Jayanthi, Mahinda, Chandra, Basil, Gotabhaya, Dudley, Preethi and Gandani.

D. M. received 17,046 votes in the 1936 State Council election in Hambantota.

On his brother's death, Rajapakse was nevertheless reluctant to contest the Hambantota seat at the by-election of 1945.

Nevertheless, the politically influential people in the area insisted that he should contest the by-election and were finally successful in dragging him into active politics.

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.

Rajapaksa adopted a 99-year lease scheme to transfer crown land to landless peasants in 5 acre plots.

For the middle income earners, the land extending from 10-50 acre was alienated in the same manner.

These measures in fact gave a boost to the paddy and coconut cultivations in Giruva Pattuva.

When the first parliamentary general elections were held in 1947 under the new constitution, the former Hambantota electorate was divided into two, namely, Beliatta and Tissamaharama electorate.

Most of Western Giruva Pattuva was included in the Beliatta electorate.

Rajapaksa contested in Beliatta on the United National Party, 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 United National Party, left the party to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951, Several parliamentarians, including Rajapaksa, Herbert Sri Nissanka and D. S. Goonesekera, followed S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike when he crossed the floor of the house to the opposition benches on 12 July 1951.

The Rajapaksas supported Bandaranaike at the general elections 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 elections of 1956, Rajapaksa won the seat from Sri Lanka Freedom Party with 26,215 votes, which was 15,335 votes more than the opposition.

Then he was elected member of parliament for Beliatta and appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Lands and Land Development.

As the Deputy Minister, he paid special attention to agriculture and made every effort to bring economic development not only to Ruhuna but also to the people of the more than 40,000 acre of citrus plantations in the undeveloped villages of Sri Lanka.

Rajapakse gave his full support to make the Paddy Act a success along with Philip Gunawardena, who was the Minister of Agriculture and Food.

In 1959 he was appointed as Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Lands by Prime Minister Wijeyananda Dahanayake.

Rajapaksa's ups and downs in the political arena are follow those of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party at the time.

At the general election of 1960 he lost his seat.

But when the UNP government was dissolved and the parliamentary elections were held for the second time in July of the same year, Rajapaksa regained his seat at Beliatta with 15,121 votes out of 35,992 and was backbencher of the government led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

He was appointed Deputy Chairman of Committees in Parliament and subsequently Deputy Speaker.

On 19 February 1961, he wrote a valuable article in the Silumina newspaper entitled "Katata Rahata Kurakkan" about the symbolism of Rajapaksa's and about the species in Kurakkan and the associated folk poems.

At the defeat in the 1965 general elections, Rajapaksa not only lost his political power but was also devoid of material wealth.

During this period all his children, Chamal, Mahinda, Basil, Gothabhaya and Chandra were studying in Colombo and he found it difficult to meet their expenses.

He sold his vehicle, leased his coconut lands and went through enormous hardships to sustain the family.

He lost his seat in the general election of 1965 to his rival, D. P. Atapattu.

Don David Rajapaksa Vidanarachchi

When he fell seriously ill in November 1967, there was no vehicle nearby to take him to hospital.

When transport was arranged belatedly his heart condition had worsened.

After admission to hospital, he died 7 November 1967.

He also helped his elder brother Don Mathew, who was the State Councillor for Hambantota in attending to affairs of the electorate, gaining experience in politics.