Don Upatissa Gamanayake (; 17 October 1948 – 13 November 1989), also known by his alias Dias Mudalali, was a Sri Lankan politician and the deputy leader of the Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) during the 1987–89 insurrection. Not a prominent figure during the JVP's 1971 insurrection, Gamanayake emerged as a leader only after the releasing of the JVP detainees in 1977. He moved up rapidly in the party hierarchy during the JVP's 1977-83 democratic phase and became the second in command after the founder and the leader, Rohana Wijeweera. He unsuccessfully contested the 1983 Anamaduwa by-election under JVP. Gamanayake was captured and killed by the government forces in November 1989.
Family background
He was born on 17 October 1948 in Mahingala, Padukka, Sri Lanka as the seventh child in a family with nine siblings. His father Don Upenis was born in Welihena village in Athuraliya Divisional Secretariat, Akuressa and his mother Wettasinghe Arachchige Maginona was born in Padukka. Upenis, a former chena farmer, came to Padukka and worked in a rubber estate. Maginona died in 1956 after being bitten by a snake. After the death of his mother, his family went to Kantale Farm Colony in 1958 under the program of settling new settlers in farming colonies. Gamanayake was educated at Venrasanpura Tamil School and Gantalawa Maha Vidyalaya.
Gamanayake was married in 1978 to Arambe Devalage S. Karunawathi aka Karuna, a native of Ihalagama, Rambukkana Parape. Karuna was a JVP activist who was subjected to police harassment during the 1971 uprising. She was educated at Mawathagama Central College, and joined the JVP in 1969 as a schoolgirl. Several members of her family, including Gnana, were arrested in 1971 as JVP activists. Arrested during the 1971 uprising, Karuna was released from prison in 1976 after serving a suspended sentence.
After the assassination of Gamanayake, his wife Karuna, who came to Italy illegally in 1991 and sought political asylum, later emigrated to Britain in 1993 with the encouragement of the JVP London Committee in Britain, including lawyer Ranjith Mendis. The two children were then brought in as well. Karuna and her two children returned to Sri Lanka for the first time after 17 years. His son Suchira Chamika (born in 1982) living in the UK in 2018, is a technician. His daughter Janitha's first marriage took place in 2009. Janitha (born in 1980) was married for the second time in 2016 to a British national.
Political career
He started politics at the Kantale Ceylon National Students' Union of the Communist Party at school age and was the President of the Communist Students' Union which he secretly started at Kantale Maha Vidyalaya. The Trincomalee District Branch of the Ceylon National Students' Union was established by Palitha Shamdas Solomons and Palitha Gurusinghe, student leaders from the Communist Party Headquarters. He started JVP politics in November 1968 while still in school through Angampodi Cyril Jayaratne, a teacher at Pulmudai Maha Vidyalaya. Piyasiri Gunaratne, a Trincomalee railway clerk born in Ambalangoda, conducted JVP classes for Gamanayake. Later he qualified for the Faculty of Arts at the University of Colombo in 1969.
Gamanayake worked with many in the JVP activities in the Trincomalee District from November 1968 to April 1971. During the April 1971 Insurrection, insurgents attacked police stations in Trincomalee, Uppuveli and Kantale, but failed. Gamanayake was also involved in the Kantale police raid. He was not arrested during the April 1971 uprising and secretly aided and abetted the formation of the party. However, he was later arrested in 1973 in a robbery to raise funds for the JVP. On March 18, 1975, under Wijeweera's guidance, Gamanayake set up a temporary JVP central committee in prison. Then the first press conference of the JVP was held under his direction with the appointment of Attorney-at-Law M. N. Jayasinghe as the Acting General Secretary which was held on 19 February 1977. In the meantime, he held a rally in Hyde Park on March 10, 1977 and the first May Day rally of the JVP was held on May 1, 1977 at Dematagoda Park under the leadership of Gamanayake.