Somasundaram Senathirajah ( ta, சோமசுந்தரம் சேனாதிராஜா si, මාවෙයි සේනාධිරාජා) born 27 October 1942; commonly known as Mavai Senathirajah) 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 Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), a member of 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 Lankan ...

(TNA).

Early life

Senathirajah was born on 27 October 1942. He was educated Veemanramam School and Nadeswara College. After school he joined the

University of Ceylon, Peradeniya The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

as an external student and graduated with a bachelor's degree. Senathirajah got involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism movement at a young age and took part in the 1961

satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...

. He joined the youth wing of Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the Tamil Youth League, in 1962. He was secretary of the Eela Thamil Elanger Eyakam (Eelam Tamil Youth Movement) from 1966 to 1969. He was arrested on several occasions between 1969 and 1983 and spent seven years imprisoned at eight different prisons. He became secretary of the Tamil Youth Front, the youth wing 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), in 1972.

Career

Senathirajah was one of the ENDLF/

EPRLF 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, Su ...

TELO 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. T ...

/TULF alliance's candidates in Jaffna District at the 1989 parliamentary election but failed to get elected after coming 13th amongst the alliance candidates. However, he entered

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1989 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 TULF, replacing A. Amirthalingam who had been assassinated on 13 July 1989. He re-entered Parliament in 1999 as a National List Member of Parliament for the TULF following the assassination of

Neelan Tiruchelvam Neelakandan Tiruchelvam, PC ( ta, நீலகண்டன் திருச்செல்வம்; 31 January 1944 – 29 July 1999) was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, academic, human rights activist and politician. He was a Member of Parli ...

on 29 July 1999. Senathirajah was one of the TULF's candidates in Jaffna District at the 2000 parliamentary election. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. On 20 October 2001 the

All Ceylon Tamil Congress All Ceylon Tamil Congress ( ta, அகில இலங்கைத் தமிழ்க் காங்கிரஸ்), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam ask ...

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, Su ...

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. ...

and TULF formed the

(TNA). Senathirajah contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Jaffna District. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. He was re-elected at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

parliamentary elections. Senathirajah was general-secretary of ITAK before being elected leader of ITAK 6 September 2014. Senathirajah is one of a trio of MPs (the other two being

R. Sampanthan Rajavarothiam Sampanthan ( ta, இராஜவரோதயம் சம்பந்தன்; si, රාජවරෝදියම් සම්බන්දන්; born 5 February 1933) is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and lawyer who has led the Ta ...

and M. A. Sumanthiran) who lead the TNA.

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senathirajah, Mavai 1942 births Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya) Living people Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi politicians Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 10th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 11th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil politicians Tamil National Alliance politicians Tamil United Liberation Front politicians