Polthutuwe Arachchige Jinadasa Niyathapala ( si, පොල්තුටුවේ ආරච්චිගේ ජිනදාස නියතපාල) (11 April 1929 – 29 January 2018) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n politician and a former member and Senator of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and former

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the United National Party. A section of the Nawala Road was renamed as the Jinadasa Niyathapala Mawatha in recognition of services rendered by Niyathapala to

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, commonly known as Kotte (), is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is a satellite city and located within the urban area of Sri Lanka's de facto economic, executive, and judicial capital, ...

Early life and career

Born in Ratnapura in the year 1929 and then having completed his education at

Thurstan College Thurstan College ( si, තර්ස්ටන් විද්‍යාලය) is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school for boys in Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, Sri Lanka, providing primary and secondary education ...

, Jinadasa Niyathapala ventured in to journalism by having started as a freelance journalist and then becoming the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Siyarata ( si, සියරට), Dinapatha ( si, දිනපතා), Dasadesa ( si, දසදෙස), Yukthiya ( si, යුක්තිය), Siyapatha ( si, සියපත) (Daily), Parwe ( ta, பார்வே), Ceylon Guardian (English), Thiraya ( si, තිරය), Tharuwa ( si, තරුව) and Cinema ( si, සිනෙමා) newspaper publications.

Early political career

Jinasada Niyathapala started his political career in 1946 through the United National Party's Youth movement. In 1949 he held the position of Secretary General in the United National Party's youth movement. He was an active member of the All Island Youth Movement and from 1949 held the position of Deputy Chairman with Sir

John Kotelawala General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala ( si, ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) fro ...

holding the position of Founding Leader. In 1958 Jinadasa Niyathapala was appointed to the United National Party Working Committee by Dudley Senanayake, making him the youngest member of the committee at 29 years old. The same year he was also assigned as United National Party's chief organiser of the Kotte electorate. Jinadasa Niyathapala was also the editor-in-chief of United National Party's official publication Siyarata ( si, සියරට).

Parliament

Jinadasa Niyathapala was elected to parliament in the March 1960 general election defeating Stanley Tillekeratne from the Kotte, becoming the youngest UNP MP at the time. He lost his electorate in the July 1960 general election to Stanley Tillekeratne. He contested the 1965 general election and lost to Tillekeratne. He was appointed to the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Counci ...

in 1967 and served till 1970. He again contested the 1970 general election and lost to Tillekeratne.

UNP General Secretary

Niyathapala was appointed

of United National Party in 1973 by J. R. Jayewardene. He also held the position as the Secretary for the Asian region in the World Freedom Movement.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party

He left the UNP and contested the 1977 general election from the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka� ...

, but lost to Ananda Tissa de Alwis.

Kotte Municipality Council

After rejoining UNP in 1994, Jinadasa Niyathapala was appointed as UNP's chief organiser of

. In 1997 he held the position as the opposition leader of the

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council The Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council is the local council for Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the administrative city of Sri Lanka. The council was first formed as Kotte Urban Development Council which was established in the 1930s and the c ...

Other political activities

Jinadasa Niyathapala was the founding co-secretary of the Mawbima Surakeeme Viyaparaya (Motherland Protection Front) and one of the founding members and former president of the Hela Urumaya.

References

* 9th Sri Lankan Parliament * List of Senators of Ceylon {{DEFAULTSORT:Niyathapala, Jinadasa 1929 births 2018 deaths Members of the Senate of Ceylon Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians People from Ratnapura