{"id":85475,"date":"2025-01-30T01:11:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T05:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=85475"},"modified":"2025-01-30T20:27:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T00:27:50","slug":"85475","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=85475","title":{"rendered":"Former Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi Leader and Ex- Jaffna MP  \u201cMaavai\u201d Senathirajah Passes away on 29 January  at the age of 82."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By<\/p>\n<p>Meera  Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Senior Tamil politician Mavai Senathirajah, a key figure in the long political struggle for the rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka\u2019s north and east, passed away on Wednesday (January 29, 2025) after a brief illness. He was 82.<\/p>\n<p>An Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK or Federal Party) veteran and former Jaffna Parliamentarian, Senathirajah led the party from 2014 to 2024. He stepped down from the position last year amid a sharp rift \u2014 that is yet to be reconciled \u2014 between two factions vying for the party\u2019s leadership.<br \/>\nSenathirajah\u2019s political career, devoted to the cause of Tamil nationalism, spanned over six decades. He joined the movement for Tamils\u2019 self-determination in his student days and also participated in the \u2018Satyagraha\u2019 led by prominent leader S.J.V. Chelvanayakam in 1961. He continued agitating for Tamil rights through 1960s and 1970s, often courting arrest.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Senathiraja\u2019s name also came up as a potential candidate when the first election to the Northern Provincial Council was held in 2013. However, the party subsequently decided to field former Supreme Court judge C.V. Wigneswaran, who won and served as Chief Minister. All the same, Senathirajah continued to engage in the party\u2019s activities and outreach with the international community, especially India.<\/p>\n<p>In a message on social media platform \u2018X\u2019, Sri Lanka\u2019s Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa described Senathirajah as a \u201csteadfast advocate for the rights of the Tamil people\u201d, who consistently raised his voice both within and beyond Parliament. \u201cHis contributions and dedication to the cause will always be remembered,\u201d Mr. Premadasa said.<\/p>\n<p>Senior lawyer and former Jaffna Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran said Mr. Senathirajah \u201cwas a symbol of Tamil resistance to majoritarian rule for over six decades, having been jailed for several years in the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senathirajah\u2019s death comes less than a year after his long-time colleague and party senior R. Sampanthan died.<\/p>\n<p><em>Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"tweetbutton85475\" class=\"tw_button\" style=\"float:right;margin-left:10px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdbsjeyaraj.com%2Fdbsj%2F%3Fp%3D85475&amp;text=Former%20Ilankai%20Thamil%20Arasuk%20Katchi%20Leader%20and%20Ex-%20Jaffna%20MP%20%20%E2%80%9CMaavai%E2%80%9D%20Senathirajah%20Passes%20away%20on%2029...%20&amp;related=&amp;lang=en&amp;count=horizontal\" class=\"twitter-share-button\"  style=\"width:55px;height:22px;background:transparent url('https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-tweet-button\/tweetn.png') no-repeat  0 0;text-align:left;text-indent:-9999px;display:block;\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Meera Srinivasan Senior Tamil politician Mavai Senathirajah, a key figure in the long political struggle for the rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka\u2019s north and east, passed away on Wednesday (January 29, 2025) after a brief illness. He was 82. An Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK or Federal Party) veteran and former Jaffna Parliamentarian, &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=85475\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Former Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi Leader and Ex- Jaffna MP  \u201cMaavai\u201d Senathirajah Passes away on 29 January  at the age of 82.&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85475"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85479,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85475\/revisions\/85479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}