Murugesu Sivasithamparam (20 July 1923 – 5 June 2002) was a leading
Sri Lankan Tamil politician,
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 o ...
and
Deputy Speaker.
Early life
Sivasithamparam was born 20 July 1923 in
Karaveddy
Karaveddy is a town located 7 km from the City of Point Pedro, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. In local Tamil Language it translates to ''Coastal Strip'', although it is few km from the coast. Karaveddy Pradeshya Sabha is the administrative ...
in northern province of
Ceylon. He was educated at Vigneswara College, Karaveddy and
St. Joseph's College, Colombo
, motto_translation = In Knowledge and Virtue
, location = T. B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10
, country = Sri Lanka
, coordinates =
, caption = School Facade
, pushpin_m ...
. He later studied at
Ceylon University College
Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...
and
Colombo Law College. After graduation he joined the legal profession, becoming an
advocate. He appeared as
defence counsel
In a civil proceeding or criminal prosecution under the common law or under statute, a defendant may raise a defense (or defence) in an effort to avert civil liability or criminal conviction. A defense is put forward by a party to defeat a s ...
in many criminal cases.
Sivasithamparam married Sarathadevi, daughter of Ponnambalam. They had a son (Sathyendra) and a daughter (Niranjali).
Political career
Sivasithamparam came under the influence of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
and
Marxism
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
while studying at Ceylon University College. He was a supporter of
P. Kandiah, a leading communist from Karaveddy. His support for communism gradually declined and he took up
Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism instead.
Sivasithamparam stood as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
candidate for
Point Pedro
Point Pedro ( ta, பருத்தித்துறை, translit=Paruttittuṟai; si, පේදුරු තුඩුව, translit=Pēduru Tuḍuva) is a town, located in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka, at the northernmost point of the island.
...
at the
1956 parliamentary election but failed to get elected. He joined the
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) in 1958. A delimitation commission in the late 1950s created a new electoral district for
Udupiddy from parts of Point Pedro. Sivasithamparam stood as the ACTC candidate in the new electoral district at the
March 1960 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
. He was re-elected at the
July 1960 and
1965 parliamentary elections.
Sivasithamparam took part in the 1961
satyagraha organised by the
Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party). He served as "postman" for the Tamil Postal Service set-up as part of the civil disobedience campaign, delivering by motorcycle a letter informing the Jaffna police superintendent of the illegal postal service. He was assaulted by soldiers whilst trying to women taking part in the satyagraha and was hospitalised for days.
Sivasithamparam served as
Deputy Speaker between 1968 and 1970. He stood for re-election in Udupiddy at the
1970 parliamentary election but was defeated by the ITAK candidate. In 1972 the ACTC, ITAK and others formed the
Tamil United Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front ( ta, தமிழர் ஐக்கிய விடுதலை முன்னணி, translit=Tamil Onrupattatu Viduthulai Munnai, si, ද්රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති ප ...
(later renamed
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front ( ta, தமிழர் ஐக்கிய விடுதலை முன்னணி, translit=Tamil Onrupattatu Viduthulai Munnai, si, ද්රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති ප ...
). Sivasithamparam was elected vice president of TUF in 1972.
Sivasithamparam was delivering leaflets along with other leading Tamil politicians (
A. Amirthalingam,
V. N. Navaratnam,
K. P. Ratnam and
K. Thurairatnam) in 1976 when they were all arrested on government orders. Sivasithamparam was released but the others were taken to Colombo and tried for
sedition. All the defendants were acquitted after a famous
trial at bar A trial at bar is a trial before two more judges. The procedure was often used in cases which raised novel points of law or for high-profile trials. Among famous trials at bar are the trials of Sir Roger Casement and Dr Leander Starr Jameson,
In ...
case in which 72 Tamil lawyers including
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and
G. G. Ponnambalam acted for the defence.
Sivasithamparam was the TULF's candidate for
Nallur at the
1977 parliamentary election which he won with the largest majority in the country. The TULF became the largest opposition party in Parliament and Sivasithamparam became deputy leader of the opposition. Sivasithamparam was elected president of the TULF in 1978.
During the
Black July
Black July ( ta, கறுப்பு யூலை, translit=Kaṟuppu Yūlai; si, කළු ජූලිය, Kalu Juliya) was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated,T. Sabaratnam, Pirapa ...
Sivasithamparam's home and cars in Norris Canal Road, Colombo were burnt. Sivasithamparam was away in
Mannar Mannar may refer to the following places:
India
* Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Chengannur Taluk, Kerala
Sri Lanka
* Mannar District, one of 25 districts in Sri Lanka
** Mannar Island, an island within the district
**Mannar Bridge, a bridge connect ...
but his family were home. They escaped unharmed.
Sivasithamparam and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from
Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the
Constitution of Sri Lanka
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාව, Śrī Laṃkā āndukrama vyavasthāva, ta, இலங்கை அரசிய ...
required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a
separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by
Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
mobs. After three months of absence, Sivasithamparam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 22 October 1983. His refusal to take the oath under the Sixth Amendment also barred him from practising as a lawyer.
Sivasithamparam and his family, like many families of leading Tamil politicians, fled to
Madras (now Chennai),
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
.
M. G. Ramachandran
Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...
, the
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governors of states of India, governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, bu ...
, gave the family a flat to stay in. Whilst in India Sivasithamparam took part in numerous peace talks. After the signing of the
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling t ...
in 1987 Sivasithamparam returned to Sri Lanka. He was one of the TULF's candidates in
Jaffna District at the
1989 parliamentary election but failed to get elected. Sivasithamparam survived an assassination attempt on 13 July 1989 but A. Amirthalingam and
V. Yogeswaran
Vettivelu Yogeswaran ( ta, வெற்றிவேலு யோகேஸ்வரன்; 5 February 1934 – 13 July 1989) was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.
Early life and family
Yogeswaran was born 5 Febr ...
, his fellow TULF leaders, were killed in the incident. Sivasithamparam had been shot in the chest and spent a long time in hospital recovering. He took on the leadership of the TULF following the assassination of Amirthalingam.
He was one of the TULF's candidates in
Vanni District at the
1994 parliamentary election but again failed to get elected. He took part in further peace talks in the late 1990s. Ill health and failure of peace talks forced him to return to Tamil Nadu.
In 2001 the TULF, ACTC,
Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group.
Militant separatists
The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, S ...
and
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization
The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is an Eelam Tamil organisation which campaigned for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka during 1972-1987 which later accepted the December 19th proposals. ...
formed the
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 Lan ...
(TNA). Sivasithamparam, the elder statesman of Sri Lankan Tamil politics, returned to Sri Lanka in 2001 when he was appointed as a
National List Member of Parliament
A national list member of parliament (national list MP) is a nominated member of parliament who is appointed by a political party or an independent group to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The number of national list MPs allocated to a contesting par ...
for the TNA in December 2001.
Death
Sivasithamparam died on 5 June 2002 after a brief illness. His funeral took place in Karaveddy on 9 June 2002.
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivasithamparam, M.
1923 births
2002 deaths
All Ceylon Tamil Congress politicians
Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo
Alumni of the Ceylon University College
Ceylonese advocates
Deputy chairmen of committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
Deputy speakers and chairmen of committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon
Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon
Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon
Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka
Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Hindus
Sri Lankan Tamil lawyers
Sri Lankan Tamil politicians
Tamil National Alliance politicians
Tamil United Liberation Front politicians
People of the Sri Lankan Civil War
Indian Peace Keeping Force