[1] A vocal critic of violence committed by all sides, Sangaree is a supporter of federalism similar to that of India as a solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.
Sangaree's elder brother Rajasangaree, chairman of Chavakachcheri Citizens’ Committee, was murdered by the pro-Indian Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front on 26 October 1987 after Rajasangaree complained about abuses being committed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force.
Yogasangaree, EPRLF leader K. Pathmanabha and others were assassinated by the Tigers on 19 June 1990 in Kodambakkam, India.
Sayanuja, the daughter of Sangaree's brother Parathasangaree, was killed in the Tavistock Square bus bombing on 7 July 2005.
He was persuaded to stand as the LSSP candidate in Kilinochchi at the March 1960 parliamentary election even though he had no connection to the area.
[5][6] The leftist parties of Ceylon, who had in the past argued for parity between the Sinhala and Tamil languages, abandoned their beliefs in the late 1960s.
They allied themselves with the communal Sri Lanka Freedom Party, who had made Sinhala the sole official language of Ceylon, and opposed the reasonable use of Tamil proposed by the Dudley-Chelvanayakam Pact signed by the United National Party Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake.
[8] Sangaree and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by Sinhalese mobs.
[13] This caused the members of TULF who wished to remain with the TNA, led by R. Sampanthan, to resurrect the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi political party.
Sangaree eventually won full control of the TULF but most of its leading members had already left the party and it had lost most of its political support.
Following the dismal showing of the rump TULF in elections, Sangaree abandoned his beliefs and joined forces with two paramilitary groups (People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam and Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (Padmanaba wing)) to form the Democratic Tamil National Alliance.
Due to old age and irrelevance of his brand of politics, Sangaree's activities had remained dormant since then.
[15][16] The UNESCO statement said "As an indefatigable advocate of democracy and peaceful conflict resolution, he has contributed to raising awareness of the Tamil cause in a spirit of dialogue, while seeking to promote non-violent solutions to Sri Lanka and opposing terrorism".
[17] Sangaree collected his $100,000 prize at a ceremony held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, on 16 November 2006.