Manicavasagar Kanagasabapathy Eelaventhan (born M. K. Kanagentran, 14 September 1932) 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 and former Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Kanagentran was born on 14 September 1932. He is the son of Kanagasabapathy, a station master from Nallur in northern

Ceylon 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 ...

. He was educated at

St. John's College, Jaffna '' , motto_translation = Light Shines in the Darkness , location = , streetaddress = Main Street, Chundikuli , region = , city = Jaffna, Jaffna District , state = , p ...

and Wesley College, Colombo.

Career

Kanagentran worked at the

Central Bank of Ceylon The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, Sri Lanka Maha Bankuwa) is the monetary authority of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA), it is a ...

, eventually becoming head of the Tamil translation section in the Economic Research Department before retiring in 1980. Kanagentran was an active member of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) but in 1970 joined V. Navaratnam's Tamil Self Rule Party. He later re-joined ITAK, which was now part of the

Tamil United Liberation Front The Tamil United Liberation Front ( ta, தமிழர் ஐக்கிய விடுதலை முன்னணி, translit=Tamil Onrupattatu Viduthulai Munnai, si, ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති ප� ...

(TULF). Kanagentran was president of the TULF's Colombo branch. He was a victim of the

1977 riots Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. He became a high profile advocate of Tamil Eelam and changed his name to Eelaventhan which means "King of Eelam" in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

. In 1980 he and others left ITAK to form the Tamil Eelam Liberation Front (TELF). Eelaventhan was TELF's secretary. With the escalation of violence Eelaventhan, like many Sri Lankan Tamil politician, moved to

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

in 1981. He and four others were arrested in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in February 1997 on charges of procuring medicine for 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 ...

. All five were acquitted in August 1999. Eelaventhan was

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

to Sri Lanka on 4 December 2000. Eelaventhan was appointed as a

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 ...

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 in the

Sri Lankan Parliament The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila� ...

following the 2004 parliamentary election. He forfeited his seat in Parliament in November 2007 for being absent for more than three months. Eelaventhan emigrated to Canada where in May 2010 he was elected to the Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eelaventhan, M. K. 1932 births Alumni of St. John's College, Jaffna Alumni of Wesley College, Colombo Canadian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi politicians Living people Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People of British Ceylon Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil politicians Tamil National Alliance politicians Tamil United Liberation Front politicians