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Arunachalam
Ponnambalam. Thus, even by 1939, only a fraction of the Hill-country Tamils had been granted the franchise. The fear of Marxist control of the estates, as well as the pressure of Kandyan politicians, led to attempts to not to extend citizenship to the Indian Tamils of the newly independent nation, except under very stringent conditions. In effect, the
468:
Thondaman supported the Sri Lanka
Freedom Party in the 1960 elections and, after the victory of this party, was appointed to the House of Representative as a nominated Member of Parliament. On 3 December 1964, Thondaman declined to vote on a motion connected with the Governor General's Throne Speech.
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as an Indian
Estates Workers Trade Union in 1950. It was an outgrowth of the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC), formed 15 July 1939. In 1950 the CIC changed its name to the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and became the largest trade union in the country. Another trade union, the Democratic Workers Congress
491:
He shifted his loyalties towards the United
National Party which came to power in 1977. He served on the select committee for the revision of the constitution in 1978. In September 1978, he was invited by President J. R. Jayawardhane to join the Cabinet, which he accepted after the Executive Council
483:
He was out of
Parliament from 1970 to 1977 after the defeat of the UNP in the general election of 1970. During this period the CWC under his leadership gradually allied itself with the major Tamil political parties and subscribed to form the Tamil United Front (TUF). He was also elected a leader of
487:
In May 1975, the TUF stressed that its objective was the setting up of the separate free, secular, sovereign, socialist state of Tamil Eelam and renamed itself into Tamil United
Liberation Front (TULF). Thondaman did not want to subscribe to this new separatist policy of the TULF and withdrew from
464:
Thondaman's political organization staged a non-violent satyagraha campaign against the implementation of citizenship laws and boycotted them for a period of time. Since 1952, the Indian Tamils could not elect any representative to the
Parliament as their voting strength was drastically reduced.
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had granted universal franchise to
Ceylonese, this was not applied to the Indian Estate Tamils, due to opposition from caste-conscious Colombo Tamils, vote conscious Kandyan Sinhalese, as well as due to the general opposition to any form of universal franchise. The latter was named "mob rule" by
456:
Thondaman opposed those laws and argued that most of the
Indians were permanent residents and were the sons and daughters of the soil as are the Sinhalese or the "Malabar Tamils". The Marxist politicians criticised the move as an act of capitalist-imperialist lackeys, while
429:. Another view was that the enfranchisement of the Indian workers would interfere with the representation of the Kandyan Sinhalese in the legislature. However, the main reason for the disenfranchisement was the fear of political leaders like Senanayake (and even
433:) that the estate sector would become a prey to the Marxist movement. The left movement was militant and had a public image which concealed that its political strength was minuscule. However, the political leaders of the era had a more pessimistic prognosis.
361:. The former retained control of the CWC to date. Thondaman has been the dominant trade union leader of the Indian Tamil workers for nearly four decades. As president of the Ceylon Indian Congress, he contested the
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When he joined the UNP government, he explained that he owed his position to the CWC, and the CWC's policy was to get citizenship for the stateless and better working conditions for estate labour.
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Since 1978, Thondaman has served as a
Cabinet minister under Presidents J. R. Jayawardhane, R.Premadasa and since 1995 under president Chandrika Bandaranaike.
357:(DWC), was formed in 1956 as a breakaway faction of the CWC as a result of leadership rivalries between the president, S. Thondaman, and the general secretary
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The political potentiality of the Indian Tamil workers and the CIC led by Thondaman were viewed as threats to the power of the ruling
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and won. His party put forward eight candidates in the plantation electorates and seven of them were returned, they were Thondaman,
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Jane Russell, Communal Politics in the Donoughmore ear 1931-1947, Tissara Publishers, Sri Lanka 1982
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the criticised the government as a Sinhala extremist regime, and branded Ponnambalam a traitor.
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In the March 1965 elections, Thondaman shifted to the UNP to protest against the terms of the
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560:"Indian Tamils and Prabakaran's Eelam: Seeking Tamil Nadu's refuge after its betrayal"
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This brought about the downfall of the SLFP government led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
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of October 1964. After the victory of the UNP in 1965, S. Thondaman and
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of the harsher pre-Donoughmore era prior to Universal Franchise (see
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the triumvirate leadership of this Tamil political organization.
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508:, held on 2 April 2004, the party was a minor partner in the
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that won 37.8% of the popular vote and 82 out of 225 seats.
585:(K. M. de Sila, History of Sri Lanka, Penguin 1995, Ch. 33)
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
492:of the Ceylon Workers Congress decided to do so.
340:working in the plantation sector of the economy.
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866:People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
480:was named as appointed Members of Parliament.
978:Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
616:
1338:ICFTU Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation
1004:Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Alternative Group)
973:Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front
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453:for more details of dis-enfranchisement).
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
557:
537:. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 72.
1155:Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary)
532:
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1343:Political parties established in 1939
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1353:Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka
870:Democratic People's Liberation Front
47:adding citations to reliable sources
18:
1185:Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party
1160:People's Front of Liberation Tigers
876:Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization
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336:that has traditionally represented
210:Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance
13:
1279:Tamil National Liberation Alliance
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535:Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka
338:Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin
14:
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1170:Sri Lanka Freedom Socialist Party
558:de Silva, Lakshmi (2 June 2009).
1368:United People's Freedom Alliance
1358:Trade unions established in 1939
1225:United People's Freedom Alliance
1115:Aziz Democratic Workers Congress
1110:All Ceylon Malay Political Union
968:Democratic United National Front
953:Ceylon Democratic Unity Alliance
918:Tamil People's National Alliance
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451:Sri Lanka Tamils (Indian origin)
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181:72 Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha,
23:
1105:All Ceylon Islamic United Front
948:Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
689:Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal
679:Eelam People's Democratic Party
674:Desha Vimukthi Janatha Pakshaya
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34:needs additional citations for
1348:Political parties in Sri Lanka
632:Political parties in Sri Lanka
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1328:1939 establishments in Ceylon
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1259:Democratic National Alliance
1024:National Democratic Movement
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1175:Sri Lanka Sama Samaja Party
1054:Revolutionary Workers Party
851:Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi
825:Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya
815:Our Power of People's Party
663:Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
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1373:Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
1194:Former political alliances
1120:Bolshevik Samasamaja Party
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712:All Ceylon Makkal Congress
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314:Ilaṅkai Toḻilāḷar Kāṅkiras
306:இலங்கை தொழிலாளர் காங்கிரஸ்
131:இலங்கை தொழிலாளர் காங்கிரஸ்
58:"Ceylon Workers' Congress"
1363:Trade unions in Sri Lanka
1297:List of political parties
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1237:Freedom People's Alliance
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1140:Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna
1125:Buddhist Republican Party
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1019:Motherland People's Party
989:Frontline Socialist Party
938:Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna
931:Others outside parliament
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906:All Ceylon Tamil Congress
891:Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
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747:Up-Country People's Front
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717:Freedom People's Congress
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1014:Mawbima Janatha Pakshaya
1009:Liberal Democratic Party
805:Jathika Nidahas Peramuna
684:Mahajana Eksath Peramuna
669:Ceylon Workers' Congress
438:Donoughmore Constitution
326:Lanka Kamkaru Kongrasaya
298:Ceylon Workers' Congress
154:Savumiamoorthy Thondaman
128:Ceylon Workers' Congress
1269:National Unity Alliance
1064:Social Democratic Party
1049:People's Tamil Congress
994:Janatha Sevaka Pakshaya
958:Crusaders for Democracy
810:Lanka Sama Samaja Party
789:Supreme Lanka Coalition
782:Sri Lanka Freedom Party
754:United Republican Front
722:New Lanka Freedom Party
235:Parliament of Sri Lanka
1333:Ceylon in World War II
1145:Lanka Democratic Party
1089:United Socialist Party
1084:United Citizen’s Front
1079:Sri Lanka Labour Party
1029:Nava Sama Samaja Party
984:Freedom People's Front
820:Pivithuru Hela Urumaya
443:Ceylon Citizenship Act
348:The CWC was formed by
200:Indian Tamil interests
172:Ceylon Indian Congress
1302:Politics of Sri Lanka
1264:Left Liberation Front
1251:United National Front
1180:United Lanka Congress
800:Democratic Left Front
697:United National Party
514:United National Front
474:Indo-Ceylon Agreement
427:United National Party
367:1947 general election
323:ලංකා කම්කරු කොංග්රසය
276:Politics of Sri Lanka
133:ලංකා කම්කරු කොංග්රසය
1150:Lanka Mahajana Sabha
1044:New Sinhala Heritage
1039:New Democratic Front
1034:New Democratic Party
999:Jathika Hela Urumaya
459:S.J.V. Chelvanayakam
206:National affiliation
43:improve this article
1130:Ceylon Labour Party
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32:This article
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569:. Retrieved
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421:Organisation
411:D. Ramanujam
391:Nawalapitiya
365:seat at the
363:Nuwara Eliya
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178:Headquarters
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
1253:(2001–2020)
1239:(2023–2024)
1233:(2015–2018)
1227:(2004–2019)
1221:(1994–2004)
1215:(1968–1977)
1209:(1956–1957)
980:(Padmanaba)
512:-dominated
503:legislative
431:Ponnambalam
407:Talawakelle
379:G. R. Motha
354:G. R. Motha
1317:Categories
1059:Siva Senai
565:Daily News
520:References
447:status quo
415:Alutnuwara
258:Party flag
69:newspapers
506:elections
383:Maskeliya
334:Sri Lanka
286:Elections
99:July 2020
399:Kotagala
253:Cockerel
191:Ideology
836:Smaller
375:Badulla
359:A. Aziz
344:History
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319:Sinhala
300:(CWC) (
241:2 / 225
183:Colombo
160:Founded
150:Founder
83:scholar
774:Larger
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216:Colors
140:Leader
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656:SLPFA
302:Tamil
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90:JSTOR
76:books
1201:SLFP
900:TNPF
860:DTNA
573:2017
539:ISBN
488:it.
352:and
296:The
163:1939
62:news
1245:UNP
884:NPP
844:TNA
706:SJB
510:UNP
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