Don Benjamin Rupasinghe Gunawardena

Don Benjamin Rupasinghe Gunawardena (12 March 1904 - 26 December 1971: ), popularly known as Robert Gunawardena, was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and diplomat. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, which was the first political party in Sri Lanka, and served as the long time MP for Kotte. He was the leader of the Suriya-Mal Movement and served as ambassador to China between 1965 and 1970.

Early life and education Robert was born on 12 March 1904, to an affluent family in Kosgama, Sri Lanka. The fourth of seven children of Don Jacolis Rupasinghe Gunawardena, known as Boralugoda Ralahamy, and Dona Liyanora née Gunasekera, he was the younger brother of Harry and Philip. He attended the government school in Hanwella for his primary education and went on to the Prince of Wales' College, Moratuwa however following his father's false arrest for allegedly being an agitator in the 1915 Ceylonese riots the family decided to withdraw the brothers from the school and enroll them at Ananda College, Colombo. In addition to education, he played cricket, volleyball, and was a member of the Cadet Corps from 1922 to 1923.

In the late 1920s Harry, Robert and their younger sister Caroline became active in nationalist youth groups which were demanding democratic reforms with the ultimate goal of complete independence.

On the morning of 27 December 1971, Robert inspected a banana plantation in the morning and came home at around 11:00 am saying that he was ill. Rupa arranged for him to be hospitalised, but he was reluctant to go to the hospital and died at home. Then in 1938, he slipped out from British Ceylon to the British Raj and was delegate to Indian National Congress in Haripura. In 1942, Robert was arrested in British India and brought to Ceylon where he was jailed from 1942 to 1945. and remained its elected member until 1960. However he left the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, joined the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and was elected representing the Kottawa Electoral District in 1960 and remained its elected member until 1964. In 1964 he left the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and became the leader of the Suiyamal Movement.

Robert lost the first general election in 1965, and then received a message from Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake to be an ambassador.