The Fall and Rise of the Tamil Nation

V. NAVARATNAM born in Karampan in northern Ceylon and educated at Ananda College, Colombo, and Ceylon Law College, was a successful civil lawyer with the distinction of practising law for nearly fifty- eight years. He was a founding member of the Federal Party (Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, ITAK), which provided political leadership to the Tamils for over three decades after the so-called independence in 1948. A political activist and writer with a sharp intellect for strategic thinking, Navaratnam was considered by many to be the brains behind the Federal Party’s popular campaigns which paralysed governments. In 1957 he authored CEYLON FACES CRISIS to bring to the international community’s attention, for the first time, the problems facing the Tamils in Ceylon. A parliamentarian who refused to compromise the rights and interests of his people for political expediency, he participated on behalf of the Federal Party in all dialogues with Sinhalese leaders for a peaceful solution. As a Member of Parliament, he broke with the Federal Party and opposed the law for the compulsory Registration of Persons and carrying Identity Cards. To him, it was an instrument for the persecution of the Tamils. In 1969, he called upon the Tamil youth to fight for the restoration of the Tamil state using any means. Completing the content of this book in 1989 and publishing it in 1995, Navaratnam has chronicled his recollections of the events that led to the Tamil war of independence. This book is a must-read for an informed understanding of the Tamil national question. A man with a vision, he fervently believed that the Tamils must have their own independent country for their very survival to live with dignity, freedom and peace. Navaratnam turned 97 years of age in exile in Montreal, Canada, and passed away in December 2006. TamilNet is republishing the second edition with kind permission from the family of the late author. In republishing this edition, no material changes have been made to the original content, which is retained between the pages xiv and 431. Due to unavailability of the original photographs, some photographs from the first edition have been used as scanned images resulting in smaller sizes and low quality. TamilNet has added the booklet CEYLON FACES CRISIS and some relevant articles as appendices, and the index has been improved incorporating the addenda.