In the early stages of the JVP 2nd rebellion, by December 1987, students from a number of schools in the Anuradhapura district were joining the JVP full-time. The Thambuttegama division falls under the Thambuttegama zone. The Thambuttegama Central College was among them. One of them was Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake alias Bandara alias Aravinda, born on 24 November 1968 in Galewala, Matale, a resident of Thambuttegama Nallachchiya. He joined the JVP through Eppawala Hurigaswewa Mudiyanselage Wasala alias Laksiri (later a teacher at Hurigaswewa Maha Vidyalaya). Thambuttegama Premasiri, the son of one of Anura Kumara’s mother’s sisters, Damantha and Chandimal were also among them.
These are those who have passed or appeared for the GCE Advanced Level examination. Also, Seevali Godage alias Suda (later the owner of Thambuttegama Sirilike Tailors, Thambuttegama), who was educated at Malpana Maha Vidyalaya and was an activist in the student wing of the Kandy district, was assigned by the JVP from the Kandy district to the Thambuttegama student wing of the Anuradhapura district. Anura Kumara, Damantha, Premasiri were full-time members of the JVP Anuradhapura district student wing since January 1989. The secretary of the student wing of the Galkiriyagama division is Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The secretary of the student wing of the Eppawala division is Damantha. Premasiri is the secretary of the student wing of the Thambuttegama division. Damantha and Premasiri were killed in a police firing in Eppawala Mawatha Wewa village in mid-1989 while returning from a committee meeting.
Both Premasiri, a resident of Nallachchiya, and Damantha are relatives of Anura Kumara. In late 1989, a paramilitary group of the security forces, the Green Tigers, raided the house of Chandimal, a resident of Thambuttegama, Nawasirigama, born in Sirimapura, Rajanganaya, and killed Chandimal, his parents, sister, younger brother and everyone in the house. The body of the murdered Chandimal was dumped in front of Thambuttegama College. Chandimal acted as a leader of the student wing of the Thambuttegama division, and before him, its leader was Vasala.
Of those who had joined the JVP student wing in Thambuttegama as a group, only Wasala, Anura Kumara and Seevali were left. By the end of the second JVP rebellion, 11 students had been killed at Thambuttegama Maha Vidyalaya alone. During this period, the rebels had also set fire to and destroyed the Thambuttegama railway station, and it was alleged that Salgadu, a railway employee there, had provided information about this to the security forces. Under the circumstances that arose later, Anura Kumara was assigned to another zone in the Anuradhapura district, the city limits, and then withdrew from organized activities in September 1989. Anura Kumara discussed this with Palitha alias Waidyaratne, a resident of Medawachchiya, who was in charge of the JVP youth wing zone in the Anuradhapura district. Palitha was a relative of Gamini Padmasara of Hettiyawa village in Kahatagasdigili, who was killed while he was a leading JVP rebel. (Palitha, a father of four, retreated to Hambantota after the defeat of the rebellion, settled there and started a new life.) Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was selected for the University of Peradeniya, later studied at the University of Kelaniya and became a graduate.
Anura Kumara’s maternal uncle’s son, Premasiri, was killed in 1989 while he was a student activist during the second JVP rebellion. Another son was killed in 1990 when he was hit by a bomb planted by Tamil separatists in the North while serving in the security forces. He was a father of one child when he died while serving in the army. Anura Kumara later married the widowed mother of one child. Later, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was a member of the JVP Politburo, became the 5th leader of the JVP on 2 February 2014 after the departure of JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe.
