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V. Kumaraswamy
Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Velupillai Kumaraswamy (Tamil: வேலுப்பிள்ளை குமாரசுவாமி; 31 July 1919 – 10 March 1978)[1] was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.
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Early life and family
Kumaraswamy was born on 31 July 1919.[2] He was the son of Velupillai, a proctor from Chavakachcheri in northern Ceylon.[3] After school Kumaraswamy joined Ceylon Law College, qualifying as an advocate.
Kumaraswamy had a son (Vaheeswaran) and a daughter (Dushyanti).[3]
Career
Whilst still studying law, Kumaraswamy stood as the All Ceylon Tamil Congress's (ACTC) candidate in Chavakachcheri at the 1947 parliamentary election.[3] He won the election and entered Parliament.[4] Kumaraswamy became a Parliamentary Secretary after the ACTC joined the United National Party dominated government in 1948.[3][5]
Kumaraswamy was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election.[6] The ACTC left the UNP government in 1953 but Kumaraswamy chose to remain with the UNP.[7] Kumaraswamy left the UNP in 1956 over the party's support of the Sinhala Only Act.[7]
Kumaraswamy stood for re-election in the constituency at the 1956 parliamentary election as an independent candidate but was defeated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) candidate V. N. Navaratnam.[3][8] He was the ACTC's candidate in the constituency at the March 1960 and 1970 parliamentary elections but on each occasion was defeated by Navaratnam.[9][10] He contested the 1977 parliamentary election as an independent candidate but was again defeated by Navaratnam.[11]
Kumaraswamy practised law in Colombo.[3]
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References
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