Vallipuram Nalliah was a

Ceylon 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, form the plurality in the Eastern Province an ...

teacher, politician, Member of Parliament and government minister.

Early life and family

Nalliah's birth date is the subject of some dispute, with some sources citing 9 October 1909, and others 1 July 1909. He trained to be a teacher, and married Thangaratnam, daughter of Muttiah.

Career

Nalliah was principal of the Men's Training School in Attalichenai. He was a member of Batticaloa Urban Council. Nalliah contested the 1943 by-election as a candidate in Trincomalee-Batticaloa and was elected to the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative authority of China, headed by the Premier * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of S ...

. Nalliah contested the 1947 parliamentary election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate in

Kalkudah Kalkudah or Kalkuda (Pronounced Kal-Kuda, Tamil language, Tamil translation rock-bay) is a seaside resort, coastal resort town located about 35 kilometers northwest of Batticaloa, Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It used to be a popular tourist d ...

. He won the election and entered Parliament. He joined the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

-led

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and Local Government. He was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election as a UNP candidate. He was briefly Minister of Post and Information in the new government. Nalliah stood for re-election as an independent candidate at the 1956 parliamentary election but was defeated by A. H. Macan Markar. He was also unsuccessful at the March 1960 parliamentary election. He was the

All Ceylon Tamil Congress All Ceylon Tamil Congress (), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament (50% for the majority Sinhalese, and 50% for ...

' candidate in Kalkudah at the 1965 parliamentary election but was again defeated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nalliah, V. 1909 births All Ceylon Tamil Congress politicians Local authority councillors of Sri Lanka Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon Parliamentary secretaries of Ceylon People from Batticaloa People from British Ceylon Posts ministers of Sri Lanka Tamil politicians Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan teachers United National Party politicians Year of death missing