Somawansha Amarasinghe

Amarasinghe Kankanamlage Somawansa (1 January 1943 – 15 June 2016 as ), commonly as Somawansha Amarasinghe, was a Sri Lankan politician, and the 4th leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party, after Rohana Wijeweera, Saman Piyasiri Fernando and Lalith Wijerathna and served as its leader for 23 years until 2 February 2014. He is often described as a strategic leader who socialized the ideological struggle of the JVP into socialism through the nationalist struggle to save the country from Tamil separatist terrorism.

He was the leader of the People's Servants Party, established in June 2015, until his death.

Personal life He was born on 1 January 1943 in Angangoda village, Payagala, Sri Lanka as the youngest of the family. He had 4 elder brothers and 3 elder sisters. His father was James Amarasinghe, who first served in the police and later joined the Department of Irrigation, and his mother was a housewife. He completed his primary education at Amarasekara College, Kalutara and Kalutara Balika Vidyalaya. Then he attended Kalutara Vidyalaya for secondary education. After passing the Advanced Level, he trained at the Galgamuwa Irrigation Technical Training College in 1963 and worked as a Technical Officer in the Irrigation Department in Galle, Kalmunai, Bibila, Rajanganaya and Colombo. His son is Isuru Amarasinghe, who currently lives in England.

Somawansa's third elder sister Kusuma, was married to Nandisena Cooray, the former deputy chairman of the Colombo Municipal Council, who was the elder brother of Minister Sirisena Cooray. The cause was a stroke; he earlier had a heart attack.

Political career With the JVP classes conducted by Danoris Aiya in 1969, he was influenced to become one of the leading political figures in Sri Lanka. He joined JVP in 1969 through Hettiarachchige Navaratne Bandara, where he was very popular as Siri ayya alias Uncle Reggie alias Reginald Patrick among members. Technical Officer Paranavithana informed Navaratne Banda about Somawansa and after the first discussion at Devanam Piyatissa Mawatha in Maradana, he expressed his desire to join the business, attended JVP classes at Danoris Aiya's trade union office at the Land Development Department on Castle Street. In 1970 he became an active member of JVP after resigning from the job. He was also known in several names: Reginald Patrick, Reggie Kandappa, Michael, Fanlin Danio and Nimal Bandara Dissanayake. The meeting ended on 12 November 1989, at noon as the government imposed a night curfew on 12 November 1989. After the meeting, Saman Piyasiri Fernando, Lalith Wijerathna, Gamanayake and Wijeweera left in a car. Shantha Bandara went his separate way. Piyadasa Ranasinghe and Somawansa left for Madawala in a separate vehicle to retrieve some money that had been kept for security. On the way back, Somawansa descended Mount Trinity whereas Piyadasa and H. B. Herath were arrested at Galaha's house on the same day. Later he fled to India on a boat on 17 March 1990, to save his life with the help of Matale Wicky alias Selva. In the general election held on 16 August 1994, the JVP contested for the Progressive Front of Sri Lanka under the name of the National Salvation Front and won one seat in the Hambantota District. A special convention was held in Tangalle on 15 May 1995, to establish the legal rights of the JVP. Later, the JVP even won 39 seats in parliament through the SLFP coalition.

Somawansa left the JVP on 16 April 2015, and formed a party called the Janatha Sevaka Party (People's Servants Party) with 38 JVP activists. After his resignation from the JVP due to many political disputes, he formed his own party with name People's Servants Party in June 2015.

In popular media The biographical film of Rohana Wijeweera's late life titled Ginnen Upan Seethala screened in 2019 on the silver screen. The film was directed by Anurudha Jayasinghe and popular actor Sujeewa Priyalal played Amarasinghe's role.