Deshabandu Deshabandu ( si, දේශබන්දු, translit=dēśabandu; ta, தேசபந்து, translit=Tēcapantu, translation=Patriot) is the third highest Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for me ...

Nuwarapaksa Hewayale Keerthiratne (7 November 1902 - 15 November 1992) was a Sri Lankan politician, philanthropist, and Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Posts and Broadcasting. He was accepted as being a leader to the oppressed lower class at the time. Keerthiratne was also an agronomist.

Early life

Nuwarapaksa Hewayale Keerthiratne was born 7 November 1902 in

Rambukkana Rambukkana, Pradeshiya Sabha, lies within the Kegalle district in Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. The Council was incorporated on 7 July 1991 as Rambukkana ward and a few small towns. The constituency today has an area of 128.8 square km, with a ...

into a well-known family in Rambukkana – Kadugannawa area, who had become affluent by developing their own plantations at the beginning of the 20th century. His father, N. H. Abilinu was one of the largest land owners in Sri Lanka at the time. Keerthiratne was educated at

St. Anthony's College, Kandy St. Anthony's College, Kandy is a Catholic School, Roman Catholic School in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The college was established in 1854 by the Franciscan missionary, Felice Zoppi. The college is under the management of the Sylvestrines, Syl ...

Political career

In 1936, Keerthiratne contested the Dedigama electorate in the second State Council election against four main contestants,

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake ( Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ta, டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Mi ...

, Richard Nugewela, P. B. Dedigama and Mudliyar J.W. Udalagama. Keerthiratne and his supporters were severely harassed and by some of the opponents there who were preventing him from running successful campaign. He responded to this by hiring a small aircraft and distributing election leaflets from the air, thereby making history — as this was the first time it was done in Sri Lanka. Senanayake was eventually elected with 17,045 votes with Keerthiratne securing 8,746 votes, whilst the other three candidates only received 1,476 amongst them. Keerthiratne and his younger brother Asoka Karunaratne were known for their unique manner of breaking down barriers—by embracing a cooperative way of enriching relationships between individuals and groups. He represented the lower classes and minority castes, giving them a voice in the political arena for the first time. In the words of N.H. Keerthiratne who gave an interview in March 1978, "These people were not given any responsible position in the country. Their job was planting. For that there is no objection. So we started planting, coconuts, any other things, vegetables, we began planting and making money.... Even those caste minded people wanted money, so they had to come to these people who were making money." In June 1939, Keerthiratne established the "Shasthrodaya Society" with the intention of uplifting the lives of underprivileged children in rural villages. Under this scheme, he was able to build more than 50 schools, which, in later years had an immense impact on development and well-being of the people in the communities. Sri Lanka Cabinet 1952

Keerthiratne contested in the Kegalle electorate during the first Parliamentary election of Sri Lanka in 1947, against R. V. Dedigama, and won by obtaining 14,550 votes. He retained the seat at the subsequent parliamentary elections in 1952, securing approximately 65% of the vote. In 1953, he was appointed Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 ...

. Keerthiratne has the unique distinction of being the first person to send a

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

in Sinhala. In 1956 he contested the Mawanella electorate, losing to C. R. Beligammana by over 7,500 votes. At the 4th parliamentary election held in March 1960 he ran as the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

candidate in the Kegalle electorate, but was defeated by the incumbent member, P. B. G. Kalugalla, by 1,608 votes. He ran again for the same seat at the subsequent

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

s in July 1960, again losing to Kalugalla. Keerthiratne was a devout Buddhist and built more than thirty Buddhist temples throughout the island of Sri Lanka during his lifetime. His son Mihindu is a renowned architect, who designed the present

headquarters in Pitakotte.

Honours

In 1988 he was awarded the title of

Deshamanya Deshamanya ( si, දේශමාන්‍ය, translit=Dēshamāṉya; ta, தேசமான்ய, translit=Tēcamāṉya; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a ...

by the Sri Lankan Government, the third highest national honour awarded in the country.

Early life

Political career

Honours

See also

References

Further reading