Ranasinghe Premadasa Biography

Ranasinghe Premadasa was a Sri Lankan politician, who served as the third President of the island nation. Prior to that, he had also served as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Like many of the important political leaders of Sri Lanka, he was not born in a privileged family and belonged to a lower caste. He started working for the poor and downtrodden classes of Colombo from an early age. He had prepared to attend the prestigious University of London after completing his high school education but decided against it and joined the Sri Sucharita Movement. After making a mark in local politics in Colombo, he joined the United National Party and following an unsuccessful bid in an election, he finally became a member of parliament. He remained a member of parliament from Colombo Central for many years. During his political career, he introduced a range of welfare schemes for the poorer section of the population. He was instrumental in building affordable homes for the poor and that remains one his greatest legacies. He had also faced opposition from within his own party after he was named the President but he managed to survive the opposition.