Angajan Ramanathan ( ta, அங்கஜன் இராமநாதன், translit=Aṅkajaṉ Irāmanātaṉ; born 9 July 1983) is a
Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
politician, former provincial councillor and
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
.
He is the current
.
Early life and family
Ramanathan was born on 9 July 1983.
Ramanathan's father Sathasivam Ramanathan is an associate of
Basil Rajapaksa
Basil Rajapaksa (born 27 April 1951) is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
He was also a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament from 2007 to 2015. During the period ...
, brother of former
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...
. Sathasivam Ramanathan is reputed to have made billions from
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
abroad refugees from the
Sri Lankan Civil War and from government corruption. Sathasivam Ramanathan, who has extensive business interests in Sri Lanka and the U.K., was refused entry to the U.K. in 1993 due to his involvement in providing
false document
A false document is a technique by which an author aims to increase verisimilitude in a work of fiction by inventing and inserting or mentioning documents that appear to be factual. The goal of a false document is to convince an audience that what ...
s to migrants entering the U.K. and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
Ramanathan was educated at
Mahajana College, Tellippalai
Mahajana College ( ta, மகாஜனாக் கல்லூரி ''Makājaṉāk Kallūri'') is a provincial school in Tellippalai, Sri Lanka.
History
The school was founded in October 1910 by scholar and poet T. A. Thuraiyappapillai.
Maha ...
,
S. Thomas' Preparatory School
S. Thomas' Preparatory School (abbreviated as STPS) is a private, Anglican, multi-ethnic, primary and secondary day school for boys aged 5 to 16 years, located in Kollupitiya in the Colombo District of the Western Province of Sri Lanka.
The scho ...
,
Colombo International School
Colombo International School (CIS) is a private co-educational school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1982 by Elizabeth Moir and employs an English-medium curriculum.
In 1998 the school was expanded by the new Chairman of the Board of Di ...
and in Singapore.
He has
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in
computer engineering
Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
and
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from Australia.
Ramanathan is married to Prashanthini and has a child.
Career
Ramanathan contested the
2010 parliamentary election as one of the
United People's Freedom Alliance
The United People's Freedom Alliance (abbreviated UPFA; si, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக ...
(UPFA)
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...
's candidates in
Jaffna District but failed to get elected after coming 7th amongst the UPFA candidates.
During the election campaign, on 31 March 2010, Ramanathan and supporters were attacked by
Eelam People’s Democratic Party
The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) is a political party and a pro-government paramilitary organization in Sri Lanka. It is led by its founder Douglas Devananda.
Background
Douglas Devananda was one of the founding members of the Eelam ...
(EPDP), a government backed paramilitary group and a member of the UPFA. In retaliation, the following day supporters of Ramanathan shot at
Mayor of Jaffna
The Mayor of Jaffna is the head of the Jaffna Municipal Council, the local authority for the city of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka.
Mayors and chairmen
Notes
References
*
Sources
*
{{List of mayors in Sri Lanka
Jaffna
Jaffna ...
Yogeswari Patkunarajah, a member of the EPDP. In August 2010 Ramanathan was appointed
Sri Lanka Freedom Party
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka ...
(SLFP) organiser for
Jaffna District by President Rajapaksa.
Ramanathan contested the
2013 provincial council election as one of the UPFA's candidates in Jaffna District and was elected to the
Northern Provincial Council
Northern Provincial Council ( ta, வட மாகாண சபை ''Vaṭa Mākāṇa Capai''; NPC) is the provincial council for the Northern Province in Sri Lanka. In accordance with the Sri Lankan constitution, NPC has legislative power over ...
.
During the election campaign, on 27 August 2013, a violent clash took place between UPFA candidates in
Chavakachcheri
Chavakachcheri ( ta, சாவகச்சேரி Cāvakaccēri, si, ජාවකච්චේරි Jāvakachchēri) is a large town in the Jaffna peninsula of Jaffna District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It may have Javanese people, Javane ...
during which Ramanathan's father Sathasivam Ramanathan opened fire on a group led A. Sarvananthan. Sathasivam Ramanathan was arrested and remanded for
attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...
. Also during the election campaign, a UPFA mob, including Ramanathan and his father, attacked
Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...
candidate P. Thambirajah. The day before the election Ramanathan was still campaigning using
SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
, violating electoral law.
Ramanathan is alleged to have organised abductions and attacks on behalf of the
Rajapaksa family
The Rajapaksa family ( si, රාජපක්ෂ, translit=Rājapakṣa) is a Sri Lankan family that is prominent in politics. It was one of Sri Lanka's most powerful families during Mahinda Rajapaksa's presidency, when many members of the fami ...
. Jaffna UPFA municipal councillor Suveeharan Nishanthan claims he was abducted and assaulted by Ramanathan and his father on 3 April 2013 in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
.
Ramanathan contested the
2015 parliamentary election as one of the UPFA's candidates in Jaffna District but the UPFA failed to win any seats in the district. However, after the election he was appointed to the
Parliament of Sri Lanka
The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila ...
as a
National List
The National List ( he, רשימה ממלכתית, ''Reshima Mamlakhtit''), sometimes translated as the State List, was a political party in Israel. Despite being founded by David Ben-Gurion, one of the fathers of the Israeli left, the party is ...
MP representing the UPFA. During the election campaign Ramanathan's supporters attacked supporters of the
United Socialist Party. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture in June 2018. He lost his position at the start of the
2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis
A constitutional crisis began in Sri Lanka when President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former president and member of parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 before formally dismissing the incumbent Ranil Wickremesing ...
in October 2018 but was reappointed a few days later in the
new government. He lost his position following the end of the crisis in December 2018.
Ramanathan contested the
2020 parliamentary election as a SLFP candidate in Jaffna District and was re-elected. His victory was attributed to the
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
15,000 (
Rs.
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
2.7 million) he spent on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
advertising - the second highest of all candidates and ten times his nearest rival in Jaffna District,
M. A. Sumanthiran - and the publicity provided by the private media network, consisting of the Capital FM radio station and the Capital News cable station, owned by his uncle S. Vincendrarajan.
Ratnajeevan Hoole
Professor Samuel Ratnajeevan Herbert Hoole (born 15 September 1952; commonly known as Ratnajeevan Hoole) is a Sri Lankan Tamil engineer and academic. He is a member of the election commission of Sri Lanka.
Early life and family
Hoole was born on ...
, one of the three members of the
Election Commission of Sri Lanka
The Election Commission of Sri Lanka is the constitutional authority responsible for administering and overseeing all elections in Sri Lanka, including the Presidential, Parliamentary, Provincial and Local Authority elections. Sri Lanka has had ...
, has accused Ramanathan of committing various violations of electoral law during the election campaign including using the
Jaffna Kachcheri for electoral purposes, passing off government donations for the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
as his own, blocking public roads to hold election rallies and using Capital FM radio station and Capital News cable station, both owned by his uncle S. Vincendrarajan, for election propaganda.
After the election Ramanathan was appointed chairman of the Jaffna District Coordinating Committee (DDC). Ramanathan's first acts in his new role was to issue an order that all development activity in the district needs his approval and to appoint his father as his representative and co-ordinating officer in the DDC. He also took over three offices in the Jaffna District Secretariat rather than customary one room. Ramanathan was elected
unopposed when the
new parliament met on 20 August 2020.
Electoral history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramanathan, Angajan
1983 births
Alumni of Colombo International School
Alumni of Mahajana College, Tellippalai
Alumni of S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya
Deputy chairmen of committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
Deputy ministers of Sri Lanka
Living people
Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka
Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka
Members of the Northern Provincial Council
People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians
Sri Lankan Tamil politicians
Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance politicians
United People's Freedom Alliance politicians