Jayatilleke De Silva
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Jayatilleke de Silva | |
|---|---|
| ජයතිලක ද සිල්වා | |
 | |
| Born | 14 June 1938 Nindana Village, Batapola, Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka |
| Died | 26 February 2019 (aged 80) Asiri Surgical Hospital, Colombo |
| Resting place | Nawala Koswatta Cemetery |
| Alma mater | University of Ceylon |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | Sunila née Dias |
| Children | 3 |
Jayatilleke de Silva (Sinhala:ජයතිලක ද සිල්වා) (14 June 1938 – 26 February 2019)[1] was a Sri Lankan author, translator, journalist and a political activist.
De Silva was born in Ambalangoda-Batapola, Nindana Village in 1938 and commenced his preliminary studies at Hikkaduwa Central College. Then he continued his further studies in Mathematics from the University of Ceylon, Colombo. He chose his initial profession to be teaching. After a short period as the Principal of Deniyaya Central College, he left the teaching to pursue a full-time career in politics.[2]
Political career
He started his political career from the Sri Lanka Communist Party, of which he was an active member for a few decades. He got remanded for many years trying to topple the government under terrorism act during 1980s. In mid 1980s he and majority of its members left the Communist Party and Socialist People's Movement (සමාජවාදි ජනතා ව්යාපාරය Samajawadi Janatha Wyapraya) was formed. During the later stages he devoted his time to helping and was actively engaged forming the yahapalana government with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Soon after De Silva's death, his wife, Sunila Nandani Dias donated de Silva’s library to JVP.[3]
De Silva was an active committee member of the Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, and the Journalists for Global Justice organization.[4]