Nanda Ellawala’s 20th death anniversary falls today:
Precious politician of people
Wijitha Nakkawita
Though Nanda Ellawala hailed from a traditional aristocratic family
of Sabaragamuwa he was always with the common man moving at ease among
them and working to ameliorate their conditions. Strong,
straightforward, frank and joyful he rarely bowed his head to those in
higher echelons and stood his ground against his political adversaries
An Ode
Tribute to beautiful memory of
Nanda Ellawala
If the spark goes out
the essence of fire
is there in the darkness
What does it matter?
they have burnt bright
unseen unheard you stay
deep in the spirit of those
who love you - like a
scented fragrance
Let us remember you
with love on your
20th death anniversary
Surangani,
Duwa Visaka
and all your loved ones
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If he lived today he would have been a senior minister of the UPFA
Government. He was one among the charismatic political trio of the
Ratanpura District. The three - Sarath Muttetuwegama, Vasudeva
Nanayakkara and Nanda Ellawala. These three served the common people of
Sabaragamuwa and followed three political theories but their objective
was to serve the poor people who elected them to Parliament. They also
stood up to fight injustice and corruption and saw eye to eye on almost
all matters in public life.
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Nanda
Ellawala |
Today is the 20th death anniversary of Nanda Ellawala. He was one of
the young members of Parliament elected in 1970, the year a new
pro-socialist political agenda was put in motion by the SLFP led United
Front Government of Sirima Bandaranaike.
The other two parties of that Government were the Lanka Samasamaja
Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka. His two friends Sarath
Muttetuwegama was a member of the CP and Vasudeva Nanayakkara was a
member of the LSSP. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was also was elected to
Parliament that year for the first time as one of the youngest of that
Government.
Ellawala soon became a friend of mine. Whenever he was in Colombo he
visited me. Of course each time he came was to seek some redress for his
voters from the minister for whom I was working at the time. Once he was
in the company of the then Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah. Another time
it was .Rajaratnam as he had friends in all communities as he was truly
a socialist who did not discriminate anyone on ethnicity, class or
creed.
Nanda stood tall in stature both physically and politically. His sole
objective was to work for his people. Though he was a member of the SLFP
his thinking was more left-oriented easily moving with his two friends
Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Sarath Muttetuwegama. During the land reforms
of 1974 he played a keyrole in implementing it.
He was close to Hector Kobbekaduwa who was the Minister responsible
for implementing the land reforms.
Though he hailed from a traditional aristocratic family of
Sabaragamuwa he was always with the common man moving at ease among them
and working to ameliorate their conditions. Strong, straightforward,
frank and joyful he rarely bowed his head to those in higher echelons
and stood his ground against his political adversaries. Though life was
cut short at a young age he left an imprint on the people of
Sabaragamuwa similar to his friend Sarath Muttetuwagama whose life was
also cut off by accident.
When the UNP was at the height of its power four by-elections
including Ratnapura were held. Nanda Ellawala won the Ratnapura
by-election scoring 31,000 votes with a majority of over 4,700 votes but
in all the other three seats the UNP won at the by-election held on the
same day.
None of the UNP candidates had a majority of over 1,500 votes.
Sometimes he was rebellious but not arrogant. In one such instance after
1977 loss of the SLFP he contested the Ratnapura Municipal Council as an
independent candidate and defeated both the SLFP and the UNP polling the
highest number of votes in that election. He died after being subjected
to gall bladder surgery at the Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital lying in an
unconscious state for many days at the age of 50. Ratnapura lost one of
his dearest sons with his demise.
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