page_title: S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
section_title: Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact
hierarchical_section_title: S. J. V. Chelvanayakam / Political career / Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact
caption_attribution_description: English: Official Photographic Portrait of fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka),Hon S.W.R.D.Bandaranayaka-served from 1956 to until his assassination in 1959
context_page_description: Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the founder and leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi and Tamil United Liberation Front and a political leader of the Ceylon Tamil community for more than two decades. Chelvanayakam has been described as a father figure to Ceylon's Tamils, to whom he was known as "Thanthai Chelva".
  Born into an expatriate Ceylon Tamil family in Malaya, Chelvanayakam moved to Ceylon while still young. He worked as a teacher before studying law at Ceylon Law College and qualifying as lawyer. A successful career in civil law saw him becoming a King's Counsel and being offered a position on the Supreme Court, which he rejected. As a young lawyer Chelvanayakam was not involved in politics but when the British established the Soulbury Commission to look into constitutional reform in Ceylon he and other Tamil people formed the All Ceylon Tamil Congress to represent Tamil interests. He was elected to Parliament in 1947 to represent Kankesanthurai, a constituency he would represent until his death, except for a period between 1952 and 1956.
context_section_description: With escalating discrimination against Tamils and anti-Tamil riots the Tamil political leadership became convinced that the way forward was to have a separate and sovereign Tamil state. At its fourth annual convention in Trincomalee on 19 August 1956 ITAK passed four resolutions: autonomy for Tamil provinces within a federal structure; equal status for Sinhala and Tamil languages; restoration of citizenship and voting rights for Indian Tamils; and cessation of state-sponsored colonisation of Tamil land. Chelvanayakam gave Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, leader of the SLFP, until 20 August 1957 to meet ITAK's demands, stating that otherwise a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience would be launched. Initially Bandaranaike was indifferent to ITAK's demands but, following campaigns by some parts of the English language media and advice by prominent Ceylonese, entered into negotiations with ITAK in April 1957. The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact (B-C Pact) was signed on 26 July 1957. The pact provided the establishment of regional councils (Draft Regional Council Bill) with powers over specified subjects (e.g. agriculture, colonisation, cooperatives, education, electricity, fisheries, health, housing, industries, lands and land developments, roads, social services and water schemes) and powers of taxation and borrowing; amalgamation and division of regions; and allowing regional councils to allocate land in colonisation schemes to residents from their regions. Chelvanayakam wasn't entirely happy with the pact, which he considered an "interim adjustment" towards a federal state.
  The B-C Pact was opposed by Sinhalese nationalists, led by the opposition UNP, who considered it to be division of the country. There was even more opposition from Sinhalese civil servants who undermined every concession given to Tamil civil servants by the pact. Civil servants from the Ministry of Transport sent state-owned Ceylon Transport Board buses bearing number plates with the Sinhalese prefix "Sri" to Tamil speaking areas, intentionally provoking a reaction from the Tamil population. Chelvanayakam led campaigns against the "Sri" number plates in Jaffna and Batticaloa, in March 1958 and April 1958 respectively, during which he spread tar over the "Sri". In Batticaloa he was arrested and charged for defacing number plates and imprisoned for one week. On 9 April 1958 hundreds of people, including Buddhist monks, staged a protest against the B-C pact on Bandaranaike's lawn at Rosemead Place, Colombo demanding abrogation of the pact. Bandaranaike obliged, publicly tearing the pact into pieces.
  At its sixth annual convention in Vavuniya on 25 May 1958 ITAK resolved to launch a non-violent campaign of civil disobedience to achieve its goals. In May and June 1958 Ceylon witnessed anti-Tamil rioting. Bandaranaike blamed ITAK for precipitating the violence and banned the party along with the Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (National Liberation Front). ITAK's leaders, including Chelvanayakam, were arrested on 4 June 1958 as they left Parliament and imprisoned. The ITAK leaders were placed under house arrest which meant that Chelvanayakam could not communicate with the public until late 1958 when the detention order was lifted.
  Chelvanayakam was re-elected in the March 1960 parliamentary election which resulted in a hung parliament. The new Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake tried to get ITAK's support for his minority government but refused to give into ITAK's demands to end state-sponsored colonisation of Tamil-majority areas by Sinhalese, regional autonomy and the rights of Indian Tamils. As a result, ITAK started negotiations with the opposition SLFP who agreed to introduce the provisions of the B-C pact as bills in parliament. During the negotiations on forming an alternate stable government Chelvanayakam informed the Governor-General that ITAK would support a SLFP government for a full term and as result the Governor-General dissolved parliament.
caption: S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1956 to 1959
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