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T. Sivasithamparam

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Hon.
T. Sivasithamparam
தா. சிவசிதம்பரம்
Member of the Ceylonese Parliament
for Vavuniya
In office
1960–1970
Preceded byC. Suntharalingam
Succeeded byX. M. Sellathambu
In office
1977–1983
Preceded byX. M. Sellathambu
Personal details
Born(1926-03-26)26 March 1926
Died9 November 1992(1992-11-09) (aged 66)
Canada
Political partyAll Ceylon Tamil Congress
Other political
affiliations		Tamil United Liberation Front
Alma materTrincomalee Hindu College
EthnicitySri Lankan Tamil

Thamotharampillai Sivasithamparam (Tamil: தாமோதரம்பிள்ளை சிவசிதம்பரம்; 26 March 1926 – 9 November 1992) was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

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Sivasithamparam was born on 26 March 1926.[1][2] He was the son of Thamotharampillai, a village headman from Mullaitivu in northern Ceylon.[1] He was educated at Trincomalee Hindu College.[1]

Sivasithamparam married Nagambi.[1] They had three sons (Sugumaran, Srikanthan and Sivakumar) and two daughters (Vanetha and Kanchana).[1]

Career

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Sivasithamparam was a Village Cultivation Officer (VCO).[1]

Sivasithamparam stood as an independent candidate in Vavuniya at the March 1960 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered Parliament.[3] He was re-elected at the July 1960 parliamentary election.[4] He later joined the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), serving as its youth leader.[5] He contested the 1965 parliamentary election as the ACTC candidate and was re-elected.[6] He was however defeated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) candidate X. M. Sellathambu at the 1970 parliamentary election.[7]

On 14 May 1972 the ACTC, ITAK, Ceylon Workers' Congress, Eelath Thamilar Otrumai Munnani and All Ceylon Tamil Conference formed the Tamil United Front, later renamed Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).[8][9][10][11] Sivasithamparam was the TULF's candidate in Vavuniya at the 1977 parliamentary election and was re-elected.[12] Sivasithamparam and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by Sinhalese mobs. After three months of absence, Sivasithamparam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 October 1983.[13]

On 30 September 1983 the Sri Lankan Army attacked Sivasithamparam's Madukulam farm, beating to death the farm manager Nadarajah and burning his body.[14] Fearing for his life, Sivasithamparam fled to India.[14] He later migrated to Canada where he died on 9 November 1992.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. p. 205.
  2. ^ "Directory of Past Members: Sivasithamparam, Thamotharampillai". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  3. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-07-20" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
  5. ^ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (2010). Electoral Politics in an Emergent State: The Ceylon General Election of May 1970. Cambridge University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-521-15311-9.
  6. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2009.
  8. ^ Ross, Russell R.; Savada, Andrea Matles, eds. (1990). Sri Lanka : A Country Study (PDF). Library of Congress. p. 51.
  9. ^ Chattopadhyaya, Haraprasad (1994). Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An Account of Tamil-Sinhalese Race Relations. M. D. Publications. p. 33. ISBN 81-85880-52-2.
  10. ^ Amarasinghe, Samanga (2011). Independence to Referendum. Lulu Enterprises. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-105-01908-1.
  11. ^ Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 23: Srimavo's constitutional promiscuity". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Archived from the original on 13 February 2002.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011.
  13. ^ Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island (Sri Lanka).[dead link‍]
  14. ^ a b "Farm Manager Burnt to Death: MP Flees to India" (PDF). Tamil Times. II (11 & 12): 1. September 1983.
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