Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam MP (Tamil: சாமுவேல் ஜேம்ஸ் வேலுப்பிள்ளை செல்வநாயகம், romanized: Cāmuvēl Jēms Vēluppiḷḷai Celvanāyakam; 31 March 1898 – 26 April 1977) was a Ceylonese lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

This, together with government policies which were regarded by Ceylon's minorities as discriminatory, resulted in Chelvanayakam and the Tamil political movement shifting away from federalism and towards separatism.

TUF was renamed TULF and in 1976, at a convention presided over by Chelvanayakam, passed the Vaddukoddai Resolution calling for the "restoration and reconstitution of the free, sovereign, secular, socialist state of Tamil Eelam".

[15] After graduating Chelvanayakam started teaching at St. Thomas but resigned when the warden William Arthur Stone refused him leave to visit his dying brother Edward Rajasundaram.

[32][33] Following the 1936 state council election an all-Sinhalese Board of Ministers was established, stoking fears amongst the island's minorities about Sinhalese domination.

[50][51][52] Shortly afterwards Ponnambalam decided to join the United National Party (UNP) led government which caused a split in the ACTC.

[51] Eventually the ACTC dissidents, led by Chelvanayakam, E. M. V. Naganathan and C. Vanniasingam formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK, Federal Party) on 18 December 1949.

[57][58] On 5 June 1956 a group of Tamil activists and parliamentarians, led by Chelvanayakam, staged a satyagraha (a form of non-violent resistance) against the Sinhala Only Act on Galle Face Green opposite the Parliament.

[59] The satyagrahis were attacked by a Sinhalese mob as the police looked on, and ITAK MPs E. M. V. Naganathan and V. N. Navaratnam were thrown in Beira Lake.

[64][65][66] 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.

[74] 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.

[77][78] Bandaranaike blamed ITAK for precipitating the violence and banned the party along with the Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (National Liberation Front).

[82] 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.

[88] Chelvanayakam started distributing leaflets outside Jaffna Kachcheri in Old Park urging Tamil civil servants to boycott government offices and cease using Sinhala.

[89] The campaign was hugely successful and large crowds, including ITAK MPs, gathered in front of the Kachcheri and staged a protest rally.

[90] As the civil disobedience campaign spread to other parts of the north-east, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike accused ITAK of trying to establish a separate state.

[95] After initially refusing, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike allowed Chelvanayakam to travel to the UK to undergo surgery in Edinburgh at the hands of a neurosurgeon Francis John Gillingham.

[84][104] ITAK was offered three cabinet posts in the national government but, as the party had pledged that none of its MPs would accept ministerial positions until federalism had been achieved, it asked that M. Tiruchelvam be appointed to the Senate and given the Home Affairs portfolio.

[111] Chelvanayakam was re-elected in the 1970 parliamentary election which resulted in the Sinhala nationalist SLFP and its leftist allies winning a large majority in Parliament.

[117] Using its large majority in Parliament, the United Front government started the process of replacing the "British imposed" Soulbury Constitution.

[115] The proposals to constitutionally enshrine Sinhala as the sole official language, give special provision for Buddhism and repeal the protection for minorities particularly alarmed ITAK.

[115] ITAK believed that if Tamils did not participate in the constitution setting process they could demand self determination and a revert to the pre-British structures which existed before 1833.

[118] Chelvanayakam vowed to resume civic protests and in February 1972, while visiting Madras, declared that ITAK would launch a non-violent struggle to agitate for a separate state.

[127] In October 1972 Chelvanayakam informed the NSA that he was resigning his parliamentary seat and would seek re-election on the issue of the new constitution which he claimed had been rejected by the Tamils.

[128] Chelvanayakam wrote to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike on 4 November 1973 stating that the election would be peaceful and that the government's supporters could campaign freely.

[129] In the meantime, Tamil political opinion started shifting as a result of the government's perceived apathy and the Prime Minister's apparent inability to recognise the consequences of the growing ethnic tension in the country.

[135][136][137] On 19 November 1976, in one of his last speeches in the NSA, Chelvanayakam acknowledged that his quest to obtain the "lost rights of the Tamil speaking people" through federalism had failed.

[139] All the defendants were acquitted on 10 February 1977 after a high-profile trial-at-bar[e] case in which around 70 prominent Tamil lawyers, including Chelvanayakam and G. G. Ponnambalam, acted for the defence.

[4][6][145][f] At his funeral oration Bishop of Jaffna D. J. Ambalavanar said of Chelvanayakam "like Moses, Mr. Chelvanayagam showed us the promised land, but failed to reach it on his own".

[6][156][157] Chelvanayakam's non-violent methods proved to be ineffective against Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism and failed to secure Tamils' rights from successive governments.