TB Ilangaratne
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Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Mudiyanselage Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne (27 February 1913 – 21 May 1992), popularly as T. B. Ilangaratne, 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, author, dramatist, and theater actor. He was a Member of Parliament for Kandy,
Galaha Galaha ( si, ගලහා, ta, கலஹா) is a small town located in the central Sri Lanka. Situated at an elevation of about , it is one of the first tea planted areas in Sri Lanka, south of Kandy. And from Gampola town and from Deltota t ...
,
Hewaheta Hewaheta is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province. Notable people Charles Spearman Armstrong (1847–1924) was a pioneer in growing tea and cinchona in Sri Lanka at the Rookwood plantation, near Hewaheta, from 1864. His g ...
and Kolonnawa in Colombo district. He served as the Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Labour, Housing, Social Services, Finance, Commerce, Food, Trade and Shipping and in other government positions in a career spanning three decades. He established the Employees' Provident Fund, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and the People's Bank while in office. As a writer, Ilangaratne is best known for writing ''
Amba Yaluwo ''Amba Yaluwo'' ( si, අඹ යාලුවෝ, lit=Best Friends) is a 1957 novel by Sri Lankan author Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne. The novel has been translated into multiple languages with the English translation by Seneviratne B. Aludeniy pub ...
'' (1957), a popular children's novel. His novels ''Tilaka Saha Tilaka, Lasanda'' and ''Nedeyo'' have been adapted as films and ''Amba Yaluwo'' was made into a television serial.


Personal life and education

Ilangaratne was born on 27 February 1913 in Hataraliyadda Ceylon as the fourth child in a family with seven siblings. The family name of the father was 'Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Tikiri Mudiyanselage'. According to the surname of the mother party 'Ilangandavunda Mudiyanselage', he used the name 'Ilangaratne' and the full family name of the father party. His father was a well-known general practitioner of traditional ophthalmology. He began attending school in 1917 at Galagedera Vidyalaya and received his secondary education from St. Anthony's College, Kandy. Ilangaratne wrote three plays while in school (''Akikaru Putha'', ''Himin Himin'' and ''Anda Nanda''). On 4 September 1944 Ilangaratne married Tamara Kumari Aludeniya in Gampola. His wife was elected as the member for Kandy (1949-1952) and Galagedara (1970-1977). They had four children Sandhya, Rohana, Upeksha and Udaya. He died on 21 May 1992 at the age of 79.


Government service

Ilangaratne left school after passing the London matriculation exam upon which he opted not to further his studies in London and joined the government service as a clerk in the General Clerical Service. In 1941, he tried his hands at acting playing King Dhatusena in the play of the same name by Gunasila Witanansa.


Political career

In 1947, Ilangaratne left his post in the General Clerical Service and contested the Kandy electorate in the 1947 general election as a socialist candidate, but lost to
George E. de Silva George Edmund de Silva (8 June 1879 - 12 March 1950) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. He was the first Cabinet Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries in independent Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) (1947–1948), a Member of Parli ...
of the United National Party. The following year he successfully unseated George de Silva in an election petition that striped him of his civic rights and contested the by-election in the Kandy electorate as an independent socialist candidate defeating de Silva's son
Fredrick de Silva Edmund Fredrick Lorenz de Silva, (1912 – 1993) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. He was the Mayor of Kandy, Member of Parliament and Sri Lanka's Ambassador to France. Early life and legal career Born to George E. de Silva a prominent ...
, he entered the House of Representatives of Ceylon and was sworn in on 18 May 1948. He soon had to step down due to an election petition that striped him of his civic rights and in the by-election that followed, his wife
Tamara Ilangaratne Tamara Kumari Ilangaratne ( Aludeniya; 15 March 1925 – 5 October 2000) was a Ceylonese politician. She was the third female member to be elected to parliament in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Ilangaratne was elected as the independent represe ...
contested and won the Kandy electorate in June 1949. Joining S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in his newly formed
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 ...
, Ilangaratne contested the 1956 general election from
Galaha Galaha ( si, ගලහා, ta, கலஹா) is a small town located in the central Sri Lanka. Situated at an elevation of about , it is one of the first tea planted areas in Sri Lanka, south of Kandy. And from Gampola town and from Deltota t ...
and re-entered to the House of Representatives in the landslide victory the Sri Lanka Freedom Party gained defeating
Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke (11 May 1909 – 1989) was Sri Lankan politician, lawyer and diplomat. He was a former Parliamentary Secretary of Agriculture, Member of Parliament and Ceylon's High Commissioner to India. He was the Chancellor o ...
. Prime Minister Bandaranaike appointed him to his cabinet as the Minister of Labour, Housing and Social Services. He established the Employees' Provident Fund for the benefit of employees in the private sector and had the Labour day declared. Following the
Bandaranaike assassination S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), was assassinated by the Buddhist priest Talduwe Somarama Thero on September 25, 1959, while meeting the public at his private residence, Tintagel, at Rosmead Place i ...
, Ilangaratne was appointed Minister of Home Affairs by the new Prime Minister
W. Dahanayake Wijeyananda Dahanayake ( si, විජයානන්ද දහනායක ta, விஜயானந்த தகநாயக்கா; 22 October 1902 – 4 May 1997) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from Septe ...
, serving from September 1959 to December 1959 when he was removed from the cabinet by Dahanayake. He contested and was elected in the general elections of
March 1960 The following events occurred in March 1960: March 1, 1960 (Tuesday) * NASA established an Office of Life Sciences to work on exobiology, based on Dr. Joshua Lederberg's ideas that space vehicles should be sterilized before and after t ...
and July 1960 from
Hewaheta Hewaheta is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province. Notable people Charles Spearman Armstrong (1847–1924) was a pioneer in growing tea and cinchona in Sri Lanka at the Rookwood plantation, near Hewaheta, from 1864. His g ...
. He was appointed Minister of Commerce, Trade, Food and Shipping by Bandaranaike widow Sirima Bandaranaike who became Prime Minister having led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the July election. In his tenor he established the People's Bank, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the government nationalized private insurance companies and formed the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and nationalized the Bank of Ceylon. In 1963, he was appointed Minister of Finance and then Minister of Internal and External Trade in 1964. In 1964, the government nationalized private petroleum companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, transferring its assets to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. He lost his seat in the 1965 general election losing to
M. A. Daniel Mahahitana Arachchige Daniel (24 October 1953 – 25 June 1989) was a Sri Lankan politician. Daniel first ran for parliament in the March 1960 Ceylonese parliamentary election, 4th parliamentary election, held on 19 March 1960, contesting t ...
from the United National Party. He returned to parliament from a by-election in 1967 from the Kolonnawa electorate and sat in the opposition. He was re-elected in the 1970 general election from Kolonnawa and was appointed to the cabinet with the portfolios of Foreign and Internal Trade, thereafter Trade and Public Administration and Home Affairs. In 1974 he served as acting prime minister. Ilangaratne retired from politics on 12 April 1986.


Drama career

Ilangaratne first published a play called ''Haramitiya''. Since then, he made the plays ''Manthari Hamuduruwo'', ''Nataka Ata'', ''Mokada Mudalali'' and ''Nikan Awa''. He also produced the play based on W. A. Silva's novel ''Radala Piliruwa''. Later, when the novel was made into a film, he had to write the screenplay as well. After the failure in politics in 1948, he was later introduced to film producer
K. Gunaratnam Kanagasabai Gunaratnam (20 July 1917 – 27 August 1989; ta, கனகசபை குணரத்தினம்; si, කනකසබේ ගුණරත්නම්), popularly known as K. Gunaratnam was a prolific film producer in Cinema ...
by his friend lawyer S. Nadesan. Then he went to India in 1953 for filming and later got the opportunity to act in the film ''Warada Kageda''. Critics pointed out that Ilangaratne's innovative acting is due to the politics and satirical dialogue that accompanies the success of the film. After the success of the film, he was then involved in the film''Radala Piliruwa''. He wrote the screenplay in the film and also played a minor role. In 1973, he wrote the screenplay of Titus Thotawatte's film ''Mangala''.


Bibliography

*
Amba Yaluwo ''Amba Yaluwo'' ( si, අඹ යාලුවෝ, lit=Best Friends) is a 1957 novel by Sri Lankan author Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne. The novel has been translated into multiple languages with the English translation by Seneviratne B. Aludeniy pub ...
* Shishyathwaya * Wilambeetha * Thilaka * Nodaruwo saha daruwo * Nayana * Lokanthaya * Mangala * Mangala Poruwa * Delowa sihina * Ambalama * Malsarava * Vilasithavo * Nadayo * Yugayaka Gamana * Asitha saha winitha * Nedeyo *Thilaka Ha Thilaka *Hapana


See also

* St.Anthony’s College, Kandy * List of political families in Sri Lanka


References


External links


He rendered yeoman service


{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilangaratne, T. B. 1913 births 1992 deaths Finance ministers of Sri Lanka Trade ministers of Sri Lanka Labour ministers of Sri Lanka Home affairs ministers of Sri Lanka Housing ministers of Sri Lanka Social affairs ministers of Sri Lanka Shipping ministers of Sri Lanka Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lankan actor-politicians Sinhalese writers Sri Lankan novelists 20th-century novelists Alumni of St. Anthony's College, Kandy