Vijayakala Maheswaran, MP ( ta, விஜயகலா மகேசுவரன்; born 23 November 1972) 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. A

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 ...

from the Jaffna District, she is the former State Minister for Education and is a former State Minister of Child Affairs and Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs. She lost her seat in the parliament in 2020 general election.

Early life and family

Maheswaran was born on 23 November 1972. She is the daughter of Markandu from the village of Kalapoomy on the island of

Karainagar Karainagar ( ta, காரை நகர்) (pronounced Kaarai-Nagar) is located 20 km from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on the Karaitivu (Island). In Tamil, it means the many karai trees but also means the coast, as derived from the Tamil word 'kad ...

in northern Sri Lanka. She was educated at Dr. A. Thiyagarajah Madhya Maha Vidyalayam (Karainagar Hindu College). Maheswaran married

T. Maheswaran Thiyagarajah Maheswaran ( ta, தியாகராஜா மகேஸ்வரன்) (10 January 1966 – 1 January 2008) was a Tamil Sri Lankan Member of Parliament (MP) from Colombo. He belonged to the main opposition United National Par ...

, who was a Member of Parliament assassinated by the

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 Re ...

, a government backed paramilitary group, in January 2008. They have three children, two daughters and one son.

Political career

She entered politics after the assassination of her husband. Maheswaran contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the United National Front's candidates in Jaffna District and was elected to

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 ...

. After the 2015 presidential election she was appointed Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs by newly elected

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 ...

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්‍ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්‍රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி� ...

. Maheswaran was one of the

United National Front for Good Governance The United National Front (UNF) () later the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) ( si, එක්සත් යහපාලන ජාතික පෙරමුණ ''Eksath Yahapalana Jathika Peramuna''; ta, நல்லாட்ச� ...

’s candidates in Jaffna District at the 2015 parliamentary election. She was elected and re-entered Parliament. She was sworn in as State Minister of Child Affairs on 9 September 2015.

Controversies

Resurrection of the LTTE

She was arrested by the organized crimes division on her controversial statement, but on the same day she was released on an unconditional bail.

Statement on resurrecting the LTTE

In June 2018, while addressing a public event in Jaffna recently, Vijayakala said the

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

should be resurrected to ensure the freedom of Tamil people in the Northern Province. This statement generated huge backlash. Members of the Parliament in Sri Lanka of the Government and the Opposition pushed for Mrs Maheswaran's removal following the statement. Some media reported that due to pressure from his own party Prime minister

Ranil Wickramasinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

also requested President to temporarily remove State Minister Vijayakala from her ministerial portfolio until inquiries are completed. On 5 July, she resigned from the portfolio. The

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

had instructed the

Inspector General of Police An Inspector General of Police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most se ...

in September 2018 to take legal action under ''Section 120 of the Penal Code'' against Vijayakala Maheswaran on the statements she had made.AG instructs IGP to take legal action against Maheshwaran
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Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maheswaran, Vijayakala 1972 births 21st-century Sri Lankan women politicians Deputy ministers of Sri Lanka Living people 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 Sri Lankan Tamil women State ministers of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians Women government ministers of Sri Lanka Women legislators in Sri Lanka