Douglas Devananda was one of the founding members of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), one of the earliest Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups.

In 1980, EROS split into two as K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba) Varatharajah Perumal broke away and formed the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).

[1] The EPDP lacked funds and Devananda resorted to kidnapping and extortion of Sri Lankan Tamils living in Madras.

In 1990, police in Kodambakkam, Madras, started an investigation on Devananda on charges of rioting and criminal intimidation of a person called Valavan.

[2] A secret US government cable written by Ambassador Robert O. Blake Jr. states that "President Rajapaksa's government, strapped for cash, has cut direct payments to paramilitaries initiated by former President Kumaratunga and instead turns a blind eye to extortion and kidnapping for ransom by EPDP and Karuna".

[5] A secret US government cable written by ambassador Robert O. Blake Jr. states “The children are sold into slavery, usually boys to work camps and girls to prostitution rings, through EPDP's networks in India and Malaysia.

[2] Devananda offered to place the EPDP under Sri Lankan government control in return for support and protection from the Tamil Tigers.

[12][13] Devananda and the EPDP entered electoral politics when it contested the 1994 parliamentary election as an independent group in Jaffna District.

Devananda was appointed as Minister of Agriculture, Marketing Development, Hindu Education Affairs, Tamil Language & Vocational Training Centres in North when the United People's Freedom Alliance, the successor to the PA, returned to power.

[2] Since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in May 2009, the EPDP has contested local and national elections under the UPFA banner rather than on its own.