Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal is a politician from

Sri Lanka 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 the 1st and only

Chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

of the North Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. He is the founder of

Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group. Militant separatists The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, Su ...

(Varathar faction).

Life

Varadaraja Perumal was born in Sri Lanka. His father, Annamalai was an Indian Tamil. He graduated from

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna (, ''Yāpanaya Wiśwawidyālaya''; ; abbreviated UoJ) is a public university in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Established in 1974 as the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka, it became an independent, autonomous university in 1 ...

in economics. After graduation, he worked in the same University as a lecturer. He was a student activist in

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 ...

. In 1979, he co-founded

(EPRLF). Initially EPRLF was a radical outfit that had the People's Liberation Army as its military wing, and was headed by

Douglas Devananda Kathiravelu Nythiananda Devananda, commonly known as Douglas Devananda (), is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician, Cabinet Minister and leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party. Originally a Sri Lanka Tamil militant who fought against the Sri L ...

. He was arrested for his association with the outfit but he escaped from jail during 1983 Batticaloa Jailbreak, along with other inmates. In a discrete attempt to enhance Indian hegemony by the Rajiv Gandhi administration, under the pretext of ending Sri Lankan civil war, the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed. Therefore, Northern and the

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

provinces merged into the North Eastern Province. EPRLF and some other radical groups entered into mainstream politics and the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

were conducted for the newly created provincial council. EPRLF and its allies won the election with the help of

Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...

(IPKF). Perumal became chief minister on 10 December 1988. As the Chief Minister, Perumal created the Citizen Volunteer Force (CVF) which later known as Tamil National Army to enforce law and order in the province. CVF consisted of ex cadres of PLOTE and TELO, trained by Indian government. Perumal said that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) would not be needed in the province. On 1 March 1990, when India was ready to withdraw their forces, Perumal put forward a 19 point demand list to resolve the conflict and threatened to pass a resolution in the council to

declare independence "Declare Independence" is a song written and recorded by Icelandic singer Björk. It was released on 1 January 2008 through One Little Indian as the third single from her sixth studio album, '' Volta''. Björk's dedication of the song to variou ...

for

Eelam Eelam (, ''īḻam'', , also spelled Eezham, Ilam or Izham in English) is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island now known as Sri Lanka. Eelam is also the Tamil name for the spurge (a plant), toddy (an intoxicant) and gold. (Onli ...

if the demands were not met. After his demand, Sri Lankan government dissolved the provincial council and imposed the direct rule on it. After the failed attempt, Perumal self-exiled to India. Perumal opposed

LTTE 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 Eelam ...

and its leader V. Prabhakaran. LTTE called him as a traitor and tried to kill him.

References

External links

Varadaraja Perumal
at

India Today Group Living Media India Limited, d.b.a. India Today Group, is an Indian media conglomerate based in New Delhi, India. It has interests in magazines, newspapers, books, radio, television, printing and the Internet. History India Today Group was f ...

Interview With Varadaraja Perumal Former CM, Sri Lanka
Thanthi TV. {{DEFAULTSORT:Perumal, Annamalai Varadaraja Living people Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front militants Chief ministers of North Eastern Province, Sri Lanka Tamil politicians Sri Lankan Tamil rebels Sri Lankan Tamil people Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Jaffna Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Sri Lankan people of Indian Tamil descent Indian Peace Keeping Force

Life

Further reading

References

External links