Arumugam Thiagarajah (Tamil: ஆறுமுகம் தியாகராஜா; 17 April 1916 – 25 May 1981) was a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.
A. Thiagarajah | |
---|---|
ஆ. தியாகராஜா | |
Member of the Ceylonese Parliament for Vaddukoddai | |
In office 1970–1977 | |
Preceded by | A. Amirthalingam |
Succeeded by | T. Thirunavukarasu |
Personal details | |
Born | 17 April 1916 |
Died | 25 May 1981 | (aged 65)
Political party | United National Party |
Profession | Teacher |
Ethnicity | Sri Lankan Tamil |
Thiagarajah was born on 17 April 1916.[1] He was principal of Karainagar Hindu College.[2][3]
Thiagarajah stood as the All Ceylon Tamil Congress's candidate in Vaddukoddai at the 1970 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered Parliament.[4] He later defected to the governing Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and voted for the new republican constitution.[5][6][7] He was labelled a traitor by Tamil militants and Tamil nationalists.[8] He was the target of an assassination attempt at his Colombo home in 1972.[6] Thiagarajah contested the 1977 parliamentary election as an independent candidate but was resoundingly defeated by the Tamil United Liberation Front candidate T. Thirunavukarasu.[9]
The United National Party chose Thiagarajah to be its lead candidate in Jaffna District at the 1981 District Development Council election.[10] Tamil militant groups had warned candidates not to contest for the UNP.[11] He was shot by the militant People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) on 24 May 1981 as he was addressing an election meeting in Moolai.[2][12] He died on the next day 25 May 1981 in hospital.[13][11]
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