Amarasinghe was a past pupil of Kalutara Vidyalaya, and was born in 1943 as the youngest in a family of four elder brothers and three sisters in Payagala, Kalutara. His father was John Amarasinghe, who first served in the police and later joined the Department of Irrigation, and his mother was a housewife. Before joining JVP, he served as a technical officer in Colombo Irrigation Department office and other branches at Galle, Kalmunai, Bibile and Rajangana. His wife was Srimathie Chitraganie Somawansa. His son is Isuru Amarasinghe, who currently lives in England.
Political start
With the JVP classes conducted by Danoris Aiya in 1969, he was influenced to become one of the leading political figures in Sri Lanka. He joined JVP in 1969, where he was very popular as Siri ayya alias Uncle Reggie alias Reginald Patrick among members. During many political meetings, he wore long-sleeved shirts and was well fluent in English. He conducted many rallies and maintained regular contacts with human rights, cultural and media circles all around Colombo, becoming prospects of future JVP hands. In JVP Insurrection of 1971, he was arrested and detained at the prison, being guilty for carrying the bag of bombs, where he met Wijeweera for the first time. Amarasinghe was also the best friend of Wijeweera in his last days.
Under rebels
Amarasinghe became a Politburo Member of the JVP in 1984. With insurrection starting in 1989, his wife and son were sent to Japan in April for safety, but returned home in September of the same year. But on many occasions, he sent his family to many parts of the world many times for safety. He stayed with his JVP friends until Wijeweera was captured and other leaders were killed by the government. Matale Wicky alias Selva helped him escape in late 1990 from Sri Lanka.
Comeback
He returned to Sri Lanka in 1994 after all the JVP inner circle leaders were killed and government has changed. He rebuilt the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna after fourteen of its top leaders were eliminated in 1989/1990. He continued to be the leader until his retirement in February 2014.
Late career and death
After his resignation from the JVP due to many political disputes, he formed his own party with name People’s Servants Party in June 2015. Amarasinghe died at the age of 73 on 15 June 2016 at his brothers' residence, where he was living after leaving JVP, in Rajagiriya. The cause was a stroke; he earlier had a heart attack.
The biographical film of Rohana Wijeweera's late life titled Ginnen Upan Seethala screened in 2019 on the silver screen. The film was directed by Anurudha Jayasinghe and popular actor Sujeewa Priyalal played Amarasinghe's role.
