P. Kumarasiri

Premalal Kumarasiri (12 December 1919 - October 2004) was a Sri Lankan communist politician and former member of parliament.[1]

Hon. Premalal Kumarasiri
பிரேமலால் குமாரசிறி ප්‍රේමලාල් කුමාරසිරි
In office 1947–1952
Preceded by	seat created
Succeeded by	C. A. Dharmapala
Constituency	Hakmana
Personal details
Born	(1919-12-12)12 December 1919 Gonapinuwala
Died	October 2004(2004-10-00) (aged 84)
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Political party	Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
Other political affiliations	Communist Party of Ceylon
Spouse(s)	Menike
Children	Kanthilal
Alma mater	Richmond College, Galle, Ananda College, Colombo
Occupation	Communist
Known for	Maoist politics

Premalal Kumarasiri was born on 12 December 1919 in Gonapinuwala, a village in the south of Sri Lanka.[2] He attended the local village school and then Ananda College in Colombo.[2] After graduating he took up full-time work for the Communist Party of Ceylon.

In 1947 he was elected to the first parliament of Ceylon, representing the Hakmana electorate,[3] as the Ceylon Communist Party's candidate. At only twenty-eight years old he was the youngest sitting member of the parliament.[2]

Don Andris Wijeweera, the father of Rohana Wijeweera, was permanently paralysed after an attack, believed to be members of an opposing political party, during Kumarasiri's 1947 parliamentary election campaign. Wijeweera was the nominated representative at the Godauda Vidyalaya polling station in Dickwella.[4]

Despite being an MP, Kumarasiri donated Rs. 200 out of the Rs. 500 salary he received to his Ceylon Communist Party. He paid another 200 rupees for the car he received. He used only the remaining 100 rupees. He claimed to be the poorest member of parliament. His wife, Menike Kumarasiri, a teacher, spent money on his necessities. He translated the communist statements into Sinhala and took his idea to the masses. He also worked for newspapers such as Mawbima (Sinhala) and his writings translations were published in Tholilali (Tamil).[4][5]

In 1963 Kumarasiri organised the formation of the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) with N. Shanmugathasan, D. N. Nadunge, D. K. D. Jinendrapala, Higgoda Dharmasena, K. Manickavasagar, N. L. Perera, K. Wimalapala, K. Kulaveerasingham, W. S. de Siriwardene, A. D. Charleshamy, Watson Fernando, W. A. Dharmadasa, S. M. Wickremasinghe, A. Jayasuriya, D. A. Gunasekera, Cyril Kulatunge, Victor Silva, K.A. Subramaniam, Susima, K. V. Krishnakutty, S. Janapriya, Kanti Abeyasekere, E. T. Moorthy, Dharmadasa Jayakoddy, H. G. A. de Silva, S. M. P. de Silva, H. M. P. Mohideen, D. M. J. Abeyagunewardene, O. A. Ramiah, D. B. Alwis, C. S. Manohar, S. Sivadasan, Samarasiri de Silva and P. Wijayatileke. Kumarasiri was the first General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist). [6][7][5]

He received the first Premier of the People's Republic of China on behalf of the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) when Zhou Enlai visited Sri Lanka in 1964.[8]

Kumarasiri was imprisoned for two years after being caught in the infamous JVP insurrection 1971 with Somawansa Amarasinghe and others. While Kumarasiri was in prison, his wife gave birth to a son. Although he could not see his son's face, Kumarasiri himself named the child Kanthilal. His son became a lawyer and died in 1996.[9][4]