Hector Kobbekaduwa, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetHector Kobbekaduwa
Sri Lankan politician (1916-1983)
Date of Birth: 
About Hector Kobbekaduwa
- Hector Senarath Rajakaruna Bandara Kobbekaduwa (29 August 1916 – 17 September 1983) was a Sri Lankan politician and lawyer.
- He was the Sri Lanka Freedom Party candidate in the 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election and the Minister for Agriculture and Lands from 1970 to 1977.
- He is remembered for nationalizing privately owned land and restricting the ownership of private land to 20 hectares for the purpose of giving land to landless peasants.
- He created collectively owned settlement programs called Janawasas in some of the land that was acquired.
- He contested the 1982 presidential election and lost.
- The campaign of the SLFP led by him advocated for restoring previous Sri Lanka Freedom Party policies.
- His opponents ran an effective campaign criticising the closed economy & socialist policies of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party – led regime from 1970-1977, they blamed the SLFP policies for creating scarcities of essential goods and unemployment.
- Although the SLFP led by him lost the 1982 Sri Lankan presidential election, he managed to gain a significant number of votes in Tamil speaking areas like Point Pedro defeating Tamil nationalist parties.
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