Vimala Wijewardene
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The Honourable Vimala Wijewardene MP |
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|---|---|
| Minister of Health | |
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In office 12 April 1956 – June 1959 |
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| Prime Minister | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike |
| Preceded by | E. A. Nugawela |
| Succeeded by | A. P. Jayasuriya |
| Minister for Local Government and Housing | |
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In office 9 June 1956 – 21 November 1959 |
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| Prime Minister | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike/Wijeyananda Dahanayake |
| Preceded by | Jayaweera Kuruppu |
| Succeeded by | M. B. W. Mediwake |
| Member of the Ceylon Parliament for Mirigama |
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In office 1956–1960 |
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| Preceded by | John Edmund Amaratunga |
| Succeeded by | A. A. E. Jayasinghe |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Vimala Wijewardene 1908 |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party | Sri Lanka Freedom Party |
| Spouse(s) | Don Charles Wijewardene |
| Children | Padmini, Rukmani, Ananda |
| Occupation | politician |
Vimala Wijewardene (1908-??) was a Ceylonese politician and the country's first female cabinet minister.
Following the death of her older sister, Vimala, at the age of sixteen, married her sister's widow, Don Charles Wijewardene (1893-??), the fifth son of Don Philip Tudugala Wijewardene, a timber merchant of Sedavatta and Helena Dep née Weerasinghe and the younger brother of newspaper magnate, Don Richard. Don Charles, a polemicist espousing the Buddhist nationalist movement, was the author of The Revolt in the Temple (published in 1953). His mother, Helena, was responsible for arranging the financing of the restoration of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara. Don Charles and his brother Don Walter had a strong involvement in the Kelaniya Temple and Buddhist affairs. He was also the patron of Mapitigama Buddharakkitha, as a young monk supporting his promotion to chief priest of the Kelaniya Temple.
In 1952 she contested the seat of Kelaniya at the 2nd parliamentary election, representing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, against the United National Party incumbent (and her nephew), J. R. Jayewardene, losing by 6,235 votes.
At the 3rd parliamentary elections in 1956, she ran in Mirigama electorate and was duly elected, receiving 36,193 votes (75.25% of the total vote). In June 1956 she was appointed as Minister of Health in the S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike cabinet, the country's first female cabinet minister. In June 1959 she was appointed as the Minister for Local Government and Housing a position she retained in the subsequent Dahanayake cabinet. On 21 November 1959 she was arrested in connection with the assassination of Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, which led to her dismissal as Ceylon's Minister of Local Government. The charges against her were subsequently dropped on 15 July 1960. The incident effectively ended her political career and in her later life she turned to religion participating in Christian revival meetings.
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