Thanthai Chelva’s 26th death anniversary observed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2003, 13:59 GMT]
The twenty sixth-death anniversary of late Tamil leader "THANTHAI” Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam (1898-1977) was observed through the northeast province Saturday. He was the acknowledged leader of Tamil people for the last 20 years of his life and presided over the 1976 TULF national convention that ratified the goals for a separate state for Tamils in the landmark 'Vaddukoddai resolution.'

The statue of “Thanthai Chelva” at Sivankoviladi in Trincomalee, which is the administrative capital of the merged northeast province, was garlanded first by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham. Thereafter Attorney-at-Law Mr.K.Sivapalan and other leading members of the TNA garlanded the statue, sources said.

Late S.J.V.Chelvanayakam ( 1898-1977 ) formerly entered Tamil politics in 1944 when the British government announced the appointment of Soulbury Constitution on constitutional reform. “At this point the Ceylon Tamils decided that they needed to create a political organization to formulate their demands and articulate these to the Commission. This was the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), and when it was launched Chelvanayakam was one of its principal organizers.

Later he left the ACTC due to difference of opinion with his leader Mr .G. G. Ponnambalam and launched a new Tamil political party, Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) or Federal party (FP) in English in December 1949.

In 1949 Mr.Chelvanayakam declared, "we want a federal constitution made up of two linguistic provinces with a federal centre at Colombo dealing with only defence, foreign affairs and inter-provincial communication. Each linguistic province will be its master in all internal matters."

Since then Tamils accepted Mr. Chelvanayakam as their undisputable leader till his death.

In 1957 he entered into an agreement with late Prime Minister Mr.S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike, which was called B-C pact. It was abrogated later due to pressure by Sinhala hardliners.

In 1965 he signed another agreement with Prime Minister Mr.Dudely Senanayake and that was again abrogated due vehement opposition from hardliners, historical records say.

At the end of his life ‘Thanthai’ Chelvanayakam advocated a separate Tamil state in the island.

The goals for a separate state were ratified in the Vaddukoddai resolution of 14th May 1976 at the first national convention of the TULF under Chelvanayakam' chairmanship.

This historic pronouncement accused the then Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike of having "callously ignored" the TULF's "last attempt ...to win constitutional recognition of the Tamil Nation without jeopardizing the unity of the country."

The convention called on "the Tamil Nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward and throw themselves fully in the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a sovereign socialist state of Tamil eelam is reached."




( L-R) TNA Palrliamentarian Mr.Thurairetnasingham , Attorney-at-Law Mr.K.Sivapalan, Mr.Sahul Hameed and Mr.S.Sriskandarajah after garlanding Chelva's statue






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