The Jaffna Youth Congress, was the first of Sri Lanka's Youth Leagues. It was influenced by the

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, was

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

and committed to Poorana Swaraj (Complete Self-Rule), national unity and the eradication of inequalities imposed by caste.

History

The

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...

Students’ Congress was founded in 1924 and renamed the Jaffna Youth Congress (JYC) in 1926. It had its base among educated middle-class Tamil youth, especially young graduates from Indian Universities and from the newly founded

University College, Colombo 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 ...

. It drew enthusiasm and morale boosts from visits of leading Indian personalities. In 1927, the JYC invited Indian independence movement leader Mahatma

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

to visit

. In 1931

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (3 April 1903 – 29 October 1988) was an Indian social reformer and freedom activist. She was most remembered for her contribution to the Indian independence movement; for being the driving force behind the renaissanc ...

addressed the opening session of the All-Ceylon Youth Congress, and was said to have taken Jaffna by storm. Like the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the causes the JYC advocated were secularism, a non-sectarian Ceylonese nationalism and independence from Britain. For this reason, it enjoyed much respect from Sinhalese intellectuals in the south of the country. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike addressed the Youth Congress sessions, advocating, for the first time, a federal constitution for Ceylon. The JYC led a successful boycott of the first State Council elections in Jaffna in 1931, arguing that the

Donoughmore Donoughmore (spelt ''Donaghmore'' by Ordnance Survey Ireland; Irish: ''Domhnach Mór'') is a civil and Catholic parish in County Cork, Ireland. This rural district lies 25 km west-northwest of Cork city. Donoughmore is part of the Cork Nor ...

reforms did not concede enough self-government.

References

UTHR(J), SOME MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAMIL POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
accessed 3 November 2005.

accessed 3 November 2005. {{SriLanka-poli-stub 1924 establishments in Ceylon British Ceylon period Politics of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan independence movement Sri Lankan Tamil politics Youth organisations based in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil history 1920s establishments in Ceylon