Kandasamy Iyer Balanadarajah Iyer (Balanadarasan), also known as Sinna Bala,
Sunday Leader - 17 October 2004 (6 June 1957 – 16 August 2004) was 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 ...

activist, writer and poet who was a media secretary and a senior member of the Eelam People's Democratic Party.

Personal life

Balanadarasan was born on June 6, 1957, in Urelu Jaffna to a Teacher named N. Kandasamy Iyer and his wife Ambigai Amma. Balanadarasan was the second of seven children. He is a member of Jaffna's Tamil Brahmin community. Yalpanam N. Veeramani Iyer (well known Sri Lankan Carnatic Music Composer and a Dance lecturer) is the paternal uncle to Balanadarasan. Bala was married to Jegatheswary Balanadarasan (Ranjana) Daughter of well known Hindu Priest Somasundara Kurukal and his wife Puvaneshwaray in 1990 October 31 and has three daughters. He began his political activities in 1972 at the age of 15 by opposing discrimination against Tamils with the Tamil Students Organization .

Political life

He became a leader of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students and worked for the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist movement, advocating for the liberation of Tamils from the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

. He was a comrade of the founder of EROS, Ratnasabapathy. After the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students merged with the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

, he left EROS and the LTTE. He then joined the Eelam People's Democratic Party and worked with founder Douglas Devananda to promote the rights of Jaffna Tamils and Eastern Tamils. He also contested the 2000, 2001 and 2004 elections in Jaffna unsuccessfully for the EPDP. He took part in Timbu talks along with Vellupilai Balakumaran and Shankar Raji.

Writing

Balanadarasan was the publisher of Tharkeegam, the mouthpiece of the Eelam People's Democratic Party. He was also a member of the editorial board for Ellanatham (News Paper for Tamils). He utilized the pseudonym "Ilaiyavan" when writing his books such as veedu, Kaniuruthi, Porkalam, Malaiyaitharatha vanam and the well known political book "Thimbu Muthal Tokyo Varai"

Death

On August 16, 2004, he was gunned down 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 ...

by gunmen believed to be members of the

. Iyer and an associate were killed by two men on motorcycles who shot at him with pistols. Iyer was shot in the face and chest. His murder was the second major murder of a journalist in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 2004UNESCO Condemns Killing of Sri Lankan Journalist Iyer Balanadarajah
UNESCO - August 23, 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyer, Balanadarajah 1957 births 2004 deaths Assassinated Sri Lankan journalists Eelam People's Democratic Party politicians Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students militants Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil journalists Sri Lankan Tamil politicians People killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War