Manicavasagar Kanagasabapathy Eelaventhan (born M. K. Kanagentran, 14 September 1932 – 28 April 2024) was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician who was a Member of Parliament.

Background

Kanagentran was born on 14 September 1932. He was the son of Kanagasabapathy, a station master from Nallur in northern

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was educated at

St. John's College, Jaffna St. John's College ( ''Ceṉ. Yōvāṉ Kallūri'', SJC) is a private school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1823 by British Anglican missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. History In 1817 the Anglican Church Mission Society (CMS ...

and

Wesley College, Colombo Wesley College popularly known as "Wesley" or "The Double Blues", is a Methodist school providing primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka since 1874. History In 1858, Rev. Joseph Rippon wanted to establish a superior educational instit ...

. Eelaventhan died in Canada on 28 April 2024, at the age of 91.

Career

Kanagentran worked at the

Central Bank of Ceylon The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; ), known until 1985 as the Central Bank of Ceylon, is the central bank of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA) and in terms of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ac ...

, eventually becoming head of the Tamil translation section in the Economic Research Department before retiring in 1980. Kanagentran was an active member of the

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK; ; , ) is a Sri Lankan political party which represents the Sri Lankan Tamil minority in the country. It was originally founded in 1949 as a breakaway faction of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). In 1972, ITA ...

(ITAK) but in 1970 joined V. Navaratnam's Tamil Self Rule Party. He later re-joined ITAK, which was now part of the

Tamil United Liberation Front The Tamil United Liberation Front (, ) is a political party in Sri Lanka. Formation On 4 May 1972, several Tamil political groups, including the Federal Party (ITAK), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), and All Ceylon Tamil Congress formed the Tami ...

(TULF). Kanagentran was president of the TULF's Colombo branch. He was a victim of the

1977 riots Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. He became a high profile advocate of

Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam (, ''tamiḻ īḻam''; generally rendered outside Tamil-speaking areas as தமிழ் ஈழம்) is a proposed independence, independent sovereign state, state that many Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lan ...

and changed his name to Eelaventhan which means "King of Eelam" in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

. In 1980 he and others left ITAK to form the Tamil Eelam Liberation Front (TELF). Eelaventhan was TELF's secretary. With the escalation of violence Eelaventhan, like many Sri Lankan Tamil politicians, moved to

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

in 1981. He and four others were arrested in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

in February 1997 on charges of procuring medicine for the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

. All five were

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

in August 1999. Eelaventhan was

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...

to Sri Lanka on 4 December 2000. Eelaventhan was appointed a

Tamil National Alliance The Tamil National Alliance (TNA; ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu'') was a political alliance in Sri Lanka which represented the Sri Lankan Tamil minority of the country. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate T ...

National List The National List (, ''Reshima Mamlakhtit''), sometimes translated as the State List, was a political party in Israel. Despite being founded by David Ben-Gurion, one of the fathers of the Israeli left, the party is one of the ancestors of the mo ...

MP in the

Sri Lankan Parliament The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṇkā Pārlimentuvā'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் '' ...

following the 2004 parliamentary election. He forfeited his seat in Parliament in November 2007 for being absent for more than three months. Eelaventhan emigrated to Canada where in May 2010 he was elected to the Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eelaventhan, M. K. 1932 births 2024 deaths Alumni of St. John's College, Jaffna Alumni of Wesley College, Colombo Canadian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi politicians Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam Politicians from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan Hindus Tamil politicians Tamil National Alliance politicians Tamil United Liberation Front politicians Sri Lankan emigrants to Canada