Today marks Premadasa's 23rd death anniversary :

King among kings and a peasant among peasants

President Ranasinghe Premadasa's 23rd death anniversary falls today. He died at the hands of an LTTE assassin on May Day, 1993. Premadasa was not born with a silver spoon in the mouth though by dint of hard work he in his later life reached the pinnacle of political glory - the Executive Presidency.

He was elected President at a time when the country was sandwiched between northern terrorism of the LTTE and JVP insurgency in the south.

Nurtured in the ethos of the Sucharitha Movement, he found his way to ultimate success through social service, temperance movement and politics.

In his young days he had the religious influence from the erudite scholar the Most Ven. Pelene Vajiragnana Nayake Thera of the Vajiraramaya, Bambalapitiya.

Self-reliance, determination and indefatigable courage were his in-built strengths to wade through the political vicissitudes and reach the goal. He started his political career as a Ward Member of the Colombo Municipal Council, and later Deputy Mayor, Member of Parliament, Deputy Minister, Minister, Prime Minister and finally Executive President of Sri Lanka, the bastion of power enjoyed only by the elite.

Janasaviya

Shelter for the poor was his brainchild. He launched his maiden public housing project at Maligawatte in Colombo. A low-lying marshy land was converted into a self-contained modern facility. He was not happy with supervision or monitoring by officials of his projects but he himself visited the worksites and issued instructions to those responsible.

With the advent of the UNP Government in 1977, he launched his one lakh houses project. Many people had their misgivings about the feasibility of such a massive project. His vision of shelter for all culminated in the UNO declaring the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless in 1977.

The elimination of poverty was the centre-piece of all his development programs. His first-ever experiment with this was the concept of the Janasaviya program, meant to empower the low-income groups towards a sustainable livelihood.

It was a practical program which produced immediate benefits to the beneficiaries.

Gramodaya to consolidate unity and brotherhood at village level and Gam Udawa to showcase the achievements in the periphery were other community-oriented programs launched according to his own concepts.

Some of the projects initiated by him - 200 garment factories produced instant results in that it provided thousands of jobs to rural unemployed youth apart from being a regular source of substantial foreign exchange to the country.

Premadasa would have believed the 'bureaucratic bungling' to be the stumbling block to his efforts at raising the standard of living of the poor. He 'invented' his Presidential Mobile Service to bring the government administration and officials to the doorstep of the villagers.

Within a relatively short period it produced incredible results especially to the needy in the remote parts of the country who had to come to Colombo earlier.

He always empathised with the poor not only in his own country but elsewhere as well.

He launched a rural housing scheme in Buddha Gaya, India with 101 houses for 303 families. It was named 'Premadasa Gama' and the beneficiaries still hold him in high esteem.

The Kettarama Sports Stadium rated as one of the best in Asia and redeveloped Sugathadasa Stadium both indoor and outdoor launched under his direction were land-marks in the sports field.

Premadasa was a no-nonsense politician. Officials, those in the lower and higher ranks had a tough time under him in the implementation of his development priorities.

Home-made solutions

Whenever there was a public outcry he instantly came out with his home-made solutions. Following a bus-train accident at the Balapitiya unprotected railway crossing, he himself introduced the 'Bamboo Gate' providing jobs to the rural jobless.

To manage his development projects he set up the National Housing Development Authority and the Urban Development Authority, the latter to facilitate modern town planning.

When he succeeded as the UNP Leader he injected fresh blood to the party to face future challenges.

He almost changed the entire complexion of the UNP into a formidable people-oriented organisation.

He was a tough man who did not hesitate to take the bull by the horns when he crushed the JVP insurgency in 1980s when the JVP's notorious 'Chit system' brought the entire country to a virtual standstill overnight.

The irony of fate is such that he was the first Head of State against whom an impeachment was moved in Parliament by his erstwhile colleagues. Premadasa was a King among the Kings and a peasant among the peasant.

- Kitta