Don Stephen Senanayake (1883–1952) was the first Prime Minister of Ceylon, taking office at independence in February 1948 and serving until his death in 1952. He is widely known as the Father of the Nation.
He entered the Legislative Council in 1924 and served as Minister of Agriculture and Lands from 1931, where his work defined much of his legacy: the restoration of ancient irrigation tanks and the settlement of farming families in the dry zone, culminating in the Gal Oya scheme. He founded the United National Party in 1946 and negotiated independence through constitutional means rather than confrontation.
His government also passed the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 and subsequent legislation which disenfranchised most Indian Tamil plantation workers, a decision that remains among the most consequential and criticised of the early independence period. He died after a fall while riding on Galle Face Green.