Sri Lanka’s oldest politicians celebrates his Birth Centenary.

The oldest parliamentarian in Sri Lanka Daya T Pasqual celebrates his 100th birthday today. He is the only surviving former Parliamentarian of the 1956 Parliament, and still dearly cherished by the people of the area.

He represented Matugama constituency in Parliament for 21 consecutive years from 1956 to 1977. He got the highest number of votes, in the 1956 election second to Attanagalla, and even now Matugama is known as ‘Punchi Attanagalla. In the 1956 Election, he obtained 71.27% of the votes and won the Matugama electorate with a majority of 25,798 votes.

The Daya T Pasqual Patriotic Organisation has arranged a felicitation ceremony at his Matugama residence, including an alms-giving for 25 bhikkus today.  The alms-giving will be followed by lunch for around 500 guests, including his relatives, friends, and well-wishers. Also a number of leading politicians representing Kalutara district would grace the occasion.

A meeting will also be held at 2.30 pm where Daya T Pasqual would address the gathering, and it would be followed by the speeches of several invitees including politicians.

Daya T Pasqual was the pioneer in establishing Matugama Ananda Shastralaya which is one of the leading schools in the Kalutara district. He was also responsible for constructing many roads in the Kalutara district. He rendered a yeoman service to the country as a Deputy Minister of Justice.

Minister of Transport Kumara Welgama participating in the ceremony held last year said that when Pasqual was offered a ministerial portfolio, he declined to accept it, and it is difficult to find a politician of Pasqual’s caliber.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party felicitated Pasqual at the 59th Anniversary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party held in 2010 by awarding him the Neela Udara Award. (niz)