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Chandrika Kumaratunga

Also known as Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Candrikā Baṇḍāranāyaka Kumāratuṅga, 1945-, Kumaratunge, Chandrika Bandaranaike, 1945-, Kumāratuṅga, Candrikā Baṇḍāranāyaka, 1945-, Chandrika Kumaratunga, 1945-, CBK, 1945-, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, 1945-

President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005

AI overview

Chandrika Kumaratunga was the President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005, making her a significant political leader in the country's modern history. Her presidency occurred during a critical period of Sri Lankan politics and governance.

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Person · Open Library

Born: 1945
Works: 10

Top works

Speech delivered in parliament by Her Excellency the President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga after having tabled the bill on the new constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka on 3rd August 2000
Glimpses of a new vision
CBK
Minisat bavaṭa punarjīvanayak
Wijaya

via Open Library + Wikidata

Quotes

“Peace is a battle. Peace is never given freely, never acquired. Its conquest is the result of courage and of respect for others. It demands awareness and commitment from everyone. Peace is not the law imposed by the mighty, but that which is founded on equality and dignity of all peoples”
“Today is indeed a historic day. It is also a special day in the history of a great people, with a history of over thousands of years. Mr Speaker this Constitution is designed to end the ethnic war which totally destroyed the lives of the people of this country...Though anybody may hoot or howl like jackals, we shall go through with this. ...Mr. Speaker, we are doing this regardless of the number of votes we will get.”
“We have erected a terribly divided Nation at War with each other – the Tamils and Sinhala against each other, the Tamils and Muslims similarly and the State against the Tamils and now against everyone who opposes them even democratically, irrespective of their community.”
“India (even) supported the government of Sri Lanka in another UN resolution in Geneva two years back. So for India having changed its mind this time, there may have been some justifiable reasons. India has been asking the Sri Lankan government to give a political solution.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Article

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Sinhala: චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග; Tamil: சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க; née Bandaranaike; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth president of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. She is the longest-serving president in Sri Lankan history. She led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) from 1994 to 2006.

Born in 1945 into a prominent Sri Lankan political family, she is the daughter of two former prime ministers, Solomon Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Kumaratunga entered politics in the 1970s, initially focusing on social welfare and rural development. After spending several years in exile following the assassination of her husband, Vijaya Kumaratunga, she returned to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. In 1993, she was elected Chief Minister of the Western Province. The following year, after becoming the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, she formed the People's Alliance and led her coalition to victory in the 1994 parliamentary elections. In the presidential election held later that year, she was elected as the first female president of Sri Lanka, defeating UNP candidate Srima Dissanayake in the largest landslide victory in Sri Lankan history, securing almost 62% of the votes. In the 1999 election, Kumaratunga survived an assassination attempt during her re-election campaign and went on to win a second term, defeating UNP candidate and Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe.