Proposals to deprive citizenship and voting rights for one million Indian origin Tamil plantation workers in December 1948 leads to a split in the Tamil Congress: Chelvanayakam goes on to form the Federal Party (Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi) in 1949.
Quotation
“…to work unceasingly for the achievement of a Tamil state within the Federal framework of a united Ceylon, as the only way to ensure that the Tamil-speaking people in Ceylon could live with honour and self-respect.” Resolution of S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, inaugural meeting of the Federal Party, held at the Government Clerical Service Union hall at Maradana.
Opinion
“[The resolution] came as a marked departure in Tamil thinking. Thoughts on the idea of separation [had] of course been aired by individuals now and then, but those came to nothing. That maverick politician C. Suntharalingam who represented in parliament the frontier Tamil electorate in Vavuniya could be considered the father of the Tamil Eelam concept (he spelled it ‘Eylom’), but as a mere general without an army the Tamils never took him seriously. Professor A.J. Wilson in his political autobiography of S.J.V Chelvanayakam refers to an instance years earlier – in 1936 – when two Tamils, Dr S. Ponniah, a mayor in the Ceylon defence force and a notary of Vadamarachchy named Vallipurunathan had sent a petition to Britain requesting a separate state for the Tamils. They had shown Chelvanayakam (who was not an active politician then) the draft of the petition to elicit his views.” From Witness to History: A Journalist’s Memoirs (1930- 2004), S. Sivanayagam, 2005.
Related events
700,000 Indian origin plantation Tamils become stateless persons
‘Bandaranaike–Chelvanayagam Pact’ signed
‘Anti Sri’ campaign launched
