WWW Virtual Library - Sri Lanka

Out Of Bondage – The Thondaman Story
 

By T.Sabaratnam
 

Introduction:

Savumiamoorthy Thondaman is the name that shaped the post- independent political landscape of Sri Lanka, in a multitude of ways. His story is a very special one. It is the story of a group of people, who were overnight rendered stateless and vote-less by the machination of a few scheming political leaders, just few months after the attainment of independence, from the colonial rule of the British. After a protracted strive and struggle, the indomitable Thondaman managed to acquire for them. their birthrights and freedom from servitude and today, thanks to the great Leader, the Indian Tamils enjoy almost equal rights, with their brethren of other communities, in Sri Lanka. The story of how those rights were wrested back is legendary. It is the very story of Savumiamoorthy Thondaman, a maestro in political diplomacy.

He came to Sri Lanka, from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, in 1924, as a 11 year old boy, to join his father Karuppaih, who earlier was considered a “ran-away” from the village to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, with only 8 annas (50 Indian Paise) to earn a living and make his family prosper in the future which was at that particular period of time was in dire straits. In the beginning, Karuppiah served in a shop as a sales boy, worked as a laborer in an estate, rose to be a ‘kankani' - Labour supervisor; subsequently, manage to save money to buy a neglected tea estate and planted it with tea and gradually rose to become one of the rich Indian Tamil migrant in the island.

Karuppiah wished his son to manage his wealth and amass more and to become the most influential Indian Tamil planter. But Thondaman, chose another path and blossomed into the most influential politician in the island nation. By the time of his sudden death in 2000, he had transformed the political landscape of the country into an unprecedented manner, where at times the Indian Tamils determined the future of the country.

The path Thondaman chose was full of thorns, as the people who elected him to serve them, were in bondage in the tea and rubber plantations, where they sweated whole day long, to earn a meager livelihood. They were kept weld to the tea and rubber stumps. They were treated as serfs; traded along with the estates like chattel. They were denied all avenues of advancement and were continuously kept as the most backward section of Sri Lankan society. They were paid the lowest, but were unashamedly exploited most.

Thondaman led them along the path of advancement and gradually won them back their dignity and honor .

His struggle to win for them the political, economic and social emancipation was indeed traumatic but dramatic to the very last minute.

This series is an attempt to relate an unusual story of an impassion human endeavor, by the most senior Sri Lankan Journalist - T.Sabaratnam, who had covered the charismatic leader Thondaman, for the Sri Lankan dailies, "Thinakaran" and "Daily News," since from 1957, till the last days of Thondaman’s sudden demise in 2000. This is the revised version of his earlier accomplishment of the -Out of Bondage - The Thondaman Story, first published in 1990, by the Sri Lankan Indian Community Council.

The author T.Sabaratnam is an undaunting journalist, one of the veteran scribe of Sri Lanka, writes this revised version of the political biography of Thondaman, for the readers of Asian Tribune and we are very pleased to serialize this political biography.

Chapter – 1: Making of a kingmaker - Three Interviews

I begin this narrative with three significant interviews I had with Thondaman. They span two politically active and transforming decades.

My first interview with him was in 1978, when the Ceylon Workers Congress, -or the popularly known, the CWC, his Trade Union- was debating intensely the invitation for Thondaman and the CWC to join his government, extended by J.R.Jayewardene, the former Sri Lanka President of Sri Lanka..

The next one was ten years later, on 19 November 1988; the day Lankan parliament passed the special law to grant citizenship to all stateless persons.

The third was on 25 March 1997, when his opponents were gleefully predicting the collapse of Thondaman and his political empire.

Interview I -"I will never be a Yes Man"

President Jayewardene's invitation to the CWC was made in the third week of August 1978. I met Thondaman on September 4, the day before the CWC Executive Council meeting. By that time, the decision to accept the invitation to join the government had been taken and the resolution to be placed before the Council was being drafted. I asked Thondaman to state the reason for adopting such a decision.

"There are many," he replied, "but the most important is - President Jayewardene."

“President Jayewardene,” he said, "is willing to solve the citizenship problem and he is the only Sinhala leader, who could do so. But, on the other hand, he will never permit Srimavo Bandaranaike, the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP and opposition, to do it."

"If Srimavo were to try it,” Thondaman explained, "Jayewardene would rouse the majority Sinhalese passion and make it impossible for her to hand back the citizenship rights to the stateless Indian Tamils, originally taken away by D.S. Senanayake, the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka."

"The fact that President Jayewardene is the only Sinhala leader with the political shrewdness and acumen who could solve the stateless Indian Tamil's problem. He knows the political importance of the Indian Tamils' vote. He also knows that, the Indian Tamil population can never be driven away. They are going to stay-put in Sri Lanka . Therefore he must have decided, why not win them over by accepting the harsh reality."

Thondaman explained the bi-polar nature of Sri Lankan politics and the relative organizational strengths of the United National Party (UNP) and the SLFP. With better organization at its command the UNP in opposition could thwart any attempt by the SLFP to be reasonable to the upcountry Tamils. The SLFP with its organizational weakness and pro-Sinhala Buddhist tilt, would be hesitant to work a solution to the stateless problem. The SLFP also lacked political will to solve the stateless issue and the capacity to block any legislation, President Jayewardene decides to enact. "The SLFP will shout, issue statements and that's the end of the matter," Thondaman said.

Subsequent events proved Thondaman correct. “The real problem is within the UNP," he said. "It has its quota of extremists who work on President Jayewardene's desire for a place in history, as a great Sinhala ruler. He has also two other strong traits in his character: the desire to be reasonable and defiance in face of opposition. Our joining the government will strengthen his desire to appear reasonable and reinforce the hands of the moderates within the government."

He added with a mischievous smile, "We must never forget that, it was the UNP which deprived us of our citizenship and voting rights. We must make the same UNP to give them back to us."

"The task I had decided to undertake was not that easy," he added.

“The SLFP and Buddhist chauvinists would whip up communal feelings and try to force President Jayewardene to abandon his attempt to restore the rights of the Indian Tamils,” he said and continued, “J.R. was not strong willed as many believed. He was weak, wavering, calculating and selfish. When his interests are threatened, he is defiant.”

"J.R. is not Banda or Dudley," he quipped. "No one can scare him. No one can pressurize him. If anyone tries it on him, his reaction would be one of defiance," thus Thondaman revealed his study of the Sri Lankan President.

He also pointed out the dangers of joining a government. "You tend to lose your base. It happened to the Communist Party and the LSSP (Lanka Sama Samaja Party). Their leaders neglected the trade unions and their true supporters. N.M. (LSSP leader Dr. N.M. Perera) turned out to be a strike-breaker, when he joined the United Front Government of Srimavo Bandaranaike in 1970. He made use of his trade unions to break strikes and ended up in breaking his own trade unions,” he said.

"I would avoid the mistake the leaders of the LSSP and the CP made" he said. He emphasized that, he would maintain constant contact with the CWC and look after the interests of the Indian Tamils. "I am only joining the government to look after their interests," Thondaman added.

"I will never be a 'Yes man' in the cabinet. I have made this abundantly clear to J.R. I will be my people's representative and their voice in the cabinet. Their aspirations and their needs will be my concern and not any other theoretical policy considerations," Thondaman concluded.

Interview II -"I feel very, very, happy..!"

My second interview with Thondaman was on November 19, 1988. He had just returned from Parliament to his tastefully decorated ninth-floor office of the Rural Industrial Development Ministry, at Kollupitiya, located in the very heart of Colombo. On that day the Parliament successfully enacted the Law to end Statelessness and I went to meet him to asses his feelings and emotions.

"I feel very, very, happy," he said and added, "Forty years of suffering of my people has at last ended."

Interview III- "...Our people have voted against us"

The third was on March m25, 1997, soon after the results of the local elections held four days earlier were known. I expected to meet a downhearted, dejected and disappointed Thondaman, but to my surprise I saw him in a defiant mood.

"I accept that my people have not voted for us," he thundered.

A CWC Parliamentarian intervened and said, "They were confused and they were misled." He was referring to a UNP ruse. On the eve of the election, the UNP plastered the walls and boulders with a directive he issued during the August 1994 parliamentary general elections, requesting his followers to vote for UNP.

Thondaman did not accept the explanation given by his colleague and he was very harsh on him. "Learn to accept facts. Do not find excuses. Our people have rejected the stand we took. They have exercised their democratic right to tell us that, we had gone wrong. We must take that into account and correct our mistakes. Don't try to find excuses," he chided

Thondaman said that what he feared in 1978 was happening. He appraised that the leadership, specially the MPs, had failed to attend to the needs of the people. He added, “They had alienated themselves from the people. The CWC had also failed to obtain for the people their expectations.”

He reminded that the people were earlier promised with better housing, ownership of the line rooms they had occupied for generations and plots of lands to do home gardening and many other facilities. Unfortunately, he explained that none of the promises given during elections had been kept.

"The people are fed up with the false promises given by the politicians," Thondaman said and added, "I have now taken powers to my hand. I will tell the government that unless we keep our promises, the people will choose the leaders, who can win them their demands."

He announced that the CWC General Council had resolved to authorize him to take whatever action needed to put things in order. "I am not prepared to sacrifice the 50 years of hard work put by so many people," he said determinedly.

His face betrayed the emotions he was trying to conceal. For him the uplifting his people is his life mission, a life-long goal since his boyhood.

The story of Thondaman

He came to Ceylon as a boy of eleven to join his father, Karuppaiah, the owner of Wavendon Estate, a lush tea estate in the Central hills. He was then known by his first name Savumiamoorthy, the name of the deity Sri Savumia Narayana Perumal, whom his family worshipped in their ancestral village Muna Pudur, a prosperous agricultural village in the Pasumpon district, earlier known as Ramnad. The village, the temple and the reigning deity, still occupy an important place in Thondaman's life and that of his family.

It was at that temple, Thondaman's father prayed on the morning he decided to set out to Ceylon, at the tender age of 13, without the permission and knowledge of his parents. It was in 1873. Crops had failed and the family was in dire straits. The young boy then known as Kumaravel, determined to help his family, sought permission from the deity, he revered, to migrate to Ceylon.

People of the village said that he had run away, but in fact, he went away with a 'Labour gang,' recruited by Maruthappan Kankani, who had returned to his village for a holiday, after a stint at a coffee estate in Gampola, in the Central hills of Sri Lanka. He held a meeting at the temple premises and said that his employer had asked him to recruit laborers -coolies- to work in his estate. “Wages were attractive and accommodation provided,” he announced.

"Look at me," he tempted them, "I went to Ceylon as a pauper and am doing well. You too can prosper, if you come with me."

Maruthappan also told of the retail trader Muthaiah, as another example for success. Muthaiah who was trader at Gampola, had returned to his village, a few months ago and had carried a lot of presents to his relatives. "If you are enterprising, you can be another Muthaiah," Maruthappan said.

Some offered to join. Young Karuppaiah stood up. "Can young boys like me join?" he asked.

"Of course. Young boys like you are welcome," Maruthappan replied. Karuppaiah volunteered.

That was the time a prolonged drought had ruined agriculture in Tamil Nadu, then Madras State. Cultivators were abandoning their parched land and looking for alternate livelihood. That was the time labor contractors were recruiting labor 'gangs' as indentured laborers, and taking them to Burma, Malaysia, Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius and far away West Indies islands, to open up coffee, rubber, tea and sugarcane plantations. Ceylon was the nearest and the most attractive place for new avenues of earning during those time.

Kankani System

Labour recruitment at that time was controlled by the 'indenture system' introduced by the British Indian government , which laid down strict conditions including wages, abode, medical care etc. Recruitment was under a contract of employment, which stipulated that the labourer was bound to the employer during the contracted period. Registered contractors who undertake to conform to the government regulations were permitted to recruit workers.

In Ceylon, the alternate system of recruitment was called the Kankani System and was popular. Kankani was an unofficial labor contractor, who collected 'gangs' of 40 to 60 men and women and provided their services to planters. That system was popular with the planters, as well as with the workers.

Under kankanis, planters were not bound to provide the facilities stipulated under the 'indenture system' and the workers were free to switch employers. Kankani system had another advantage: there was unity and common interest in the 'gang' as most of them were from the same village or locality,

Free supply of labor gangs was made available in Ceylon, because of the proximity of Tamil Nadu, and from where the migration was unrestricted.

Five days after he joined the gang, Karuppaiah went to Thirukoddiur temple. He prayed. He wept. But he was determined. He knew that it was a gamble. He was aware that he may fall by the wayside and be dead or would be killed by wild animals.

He vowed that he would go and sought the blessings of the god. "My god, help me to achieve my ambition," he prayed aloudly.

That evening Muna Pudur village hummed with the news that, Karuppaiah had bolted away.

The gang of forty men, women and children walked to the ancient port of Pundi and took a boat to Pampan. From there, they went to Mandapam to complete quarantine procedures. Then they sailed in a bigger vessel to Pesalai, a fishing village in the Mannar island, paying 25 cents each. Maruthappan paid the fare. This spared Karuppaiah the 8 annas (50 cents) with which he left home.

From Mannar they walked again following the Indian migrant labor route- Murunkan, Mankulam, Madawachiya, Mihintala, Dambulla, Matale and Kandy. They reached Matale on the eighth day and camped at Muthumariamman temple. They walked to Kandy and then to Gampola, where they arrived on the tenth day.

Karuppaiah had enjoyed the trip immensely. Later in life, he related stories of that adventure of how a woman fell ill and was carried over 16 kilometers to an ambalama, where a doctor was found to treat her. How every one fell exhausted except him. How they ran for life on sighting a herd of wild elephants.

At Gampola they went to Muthaiah's shop where Muthaiah, who had traveled by ship to Colombo and then by train to Gampola, the route the affluent took, received them. Muthaiah wanted Karuppaiah to work for him. Others left with Maruthappan to his estate.

Karuppaiah desired to go with the rest, but Muthaiah dissuaded him. "Be with me. I will train you in business," he told Karuppaiah. When Kauppaiah said he wanted to see the estate, Muthaiah promised to send him in his bullock cart, that goes round distributing merchandise to estates.
“You will be going to many estates and not one,” Muthiah told him.

Karuppaiah fell for that bait. Anyhow, he had to obey Muthaiah, who was his distant relative. Muthaiah, however, did not treat him as a relative. He was treated like a servant. He made him work for long hours. He was also harsh on him. He had to look after the house and keep awake till Muthaiah returned from the shop, late in the evening. If he was found sleeping, he was beaten severely. Karuppaiah found a solution to his predicament. He slept by the front door and woke up at the first knock. This earned him Muthaiah's goodwill and the promotion as a sales boy, at his shop.

It was Muthaiah, who gave Karuppaiah his name. His parents had named him Kumaravel. One day, Muthaiah told him: "From today I will call you Karuppan," and he was Karuppan thereafter. It was after he prospered in life, he called himself Karuppaiah Pillai; ‘Aiah’ - to earn respect and Pillai -added for his credit-worthiness.

How long Karuppaiah worked with Muthaiah is not clear. The exact dates and even years of Karuppaiah's life is obscure. The year of his birth and the year of migration to Ceylon, were only determined by the available external evidences. Exact dates and years are not that vital for this story.

The coffee boom

When Karuppaiah left Muthaiah's service, he joined Gordon Estate at Kadugannawa, at a daily wage of 13 cents. This was around the year 1875. That was the time of the historic coffee boom.

Coffee had been planted in Ceylon, since 1830 and a record crop was exported in 1861. Gordon estate was also planted with coffee and was doing fine financially. That provided enterprising Karuppaiah with an opening. He collected a labor gang and promoted himself as a Kankani.

Kankani was something more than an unofficial labour contractor. He was a leader, a father figure, who ensured attendance of his men and women, supervised their work, calculated their wages, supplied their commodities and looked after their interest and welfare. Kankani was the link between the estate superintendent and the labour.

Handsome and pleasant Karuppaiah, was strict but humane. It was said, a woman labourer could not pick the minimum poundage, because she was sick. He persuaded other pluckers, to give her a handful each, to enable her to earn the full wage that day. He was also a 'ladies' man, who was said to have raised a family, when at Gordon Estate.

The deadly coffee leaf blight disease, the leaf fungus called hemileia Vastratrix, that first appeared in 1869, spread to Gordon Estate ten years later and devastated the entire plantation. Karuppaiah lost his job next year and joined Attabage Estate. It was his worst period. He was almost a broken man.

The turnaround came ten years later. He decided to quit the place engulfed with continued misfortune and go elsewhere. He chose Nuwara Eliya and set out on his journey.

A barber, whom people consider a man of ill omen, crossed his path. Observing Karuppaiah's dejected forlorn appearance; he asked him where he was going.

"I' m going to Nuwara Eliya to find a job," Karuppaiah replied.

"Dorai, I heard that they were looking for a good kankani at Wavendon Estate, in Ramboda," the barber told him.

Karuppaiah went there and got the job. For him, the barber had turned out to be man of good omen. That happened in 1890. From then onwards, it was a meteoric rise. He soon became a head kankani in charge of seven estates in the Ramboda range in the Central hills, including Dunnsinane Estate. He got up at 4 a.m. every day, walked all the estates, to check the labour turnout and supervised the work of the sub-kankanis. He used to return to his room at 7 pm, fully exhausted.

His hard work was well rewarded. He collected a big packet of 'pence money ' - four cents per worker every day. That money he invested in various business ventures. He bought bullock carts and organized a retail business of transporting household goods. He started a 'transport agency ' under the name “V.E.K.R,” to carry tea caskets to Colombo and bring back groceries.

While busy making money, he became involved with a woman named Kathirayi. He married her and had children by her; but his people at Muna Pudur declined to recognize the marriage, as she belonged to a different stock. He was ordered to marry from his own Kallar caste. Karuppaiah gave in to family pressure and married Sithammai, Thondaman's mother. That was in 1903.

Karuppaiah's marriage was a big event in the village. Dressed like a prince, the bridegroom rode a white horse, specially hired, to the bride's home. After the gala marriage ceremony, the couple returned to the bridegroom's home, in a decorated horse-drawn cart. It was a glamorous event that the people of the area talked of it, for years.

The eldest child of Karuppaiah was a daughter, Thirumal, born in 1905. She died shortly afterwards. It was after her birth that Karuppaiah bought Wavendon Estate, and became the first native to own an estate in the Nuwara Eliya district. Thirumal, he believed, had brought him the lady of fortune.

Wavendon Estate was the property of an absentee owner, one Miss Owen, who lived in England. Karuppaiah, who by then had amassed considerable wealth, bought it in 1909, for Rs. 75,000. It was a sprawling piece of land reaching the high hilltop, where Protoft and Poojagoda estates are now situated. At that time, only a small extent of land was under cultivation. Coffee was being gradually abandoned in favor of tea.

A year after he bought Wavendon, Karuppaiah returned to Muna Pudur and stayed for four years. He built a palatial house, complete with audience hall. This resulted in the fulfillment of the vow he took, the day he left for Ceylon that, he would restore the 'family glory,' in the years to come.

1913:Thondaman was born

Four children were born in those years, three girls and the youngest a son, born on 30 August 1913. That boy was Savumiamoorthy, whom his mother fondly called Mathavan.

It was only when he travelled to Ceylon his birth name was unearthed and he was known as Savumiamoorthy, during his first eight years in Ceylon. He took the clan name Thondaman - the clan that ruled parts of Ramanad district and had established links with Jaffna.

Karuppaiah returned to Wavendon soon after Thondaman's birth and did not return to his village for the next seven years. He planted tea in the entire estate. He also acquired the Tawalakanda division and planted tea there too. He also concentrated on trade and transport. In those seven years, Karuppaiah built himself and became a rich and influential planter cum trader.

Thondaman was barely seven years old, when his father returned to Muna Pudur in Tamil Nadu. He had grown into sturdy, mischievous boy and was attending a local Tamil school, founded a few years earlier. Father and son developed a strong attachment: When Karuppaiah prepared to return to Wavendon, Thondaman clung on to him.

Karuppaiah wanted to take Thondaman with him to Ceylon, but Seethammai, the mother, would not agree. He is too young, she pleaded. She also had misgivings about Karuppaiah's wife in Ceylon, Kathirayi, and her people. She feared they might harm the boy.

On the day Karuppaiah left for Ceylon, he asked Thondaman what present he wanted.

"I want to study," Thondaman said.

"I'll call you, after I go and will send you to a good school," the father promised.

It took four more years for that call to come.

And that call was the, ‘Call of Destiny,’ of Thondaman-for it resulted in a memorable journey, which changed the course of Thondaman's life, that of his family, the history of the Indian Tamils of Ceylon...and of Ceylon itself!

At Wavendon Young Thondaman came to Ceylon, shortly after his eleventh birthday, in 1924. It was an emotional experience for him, as he was parting from his mother who petted him all these years, to join a father, whose affection he had experienced, only briefly. He was leaving to a completely foreign environment, from the somewhat arid, warm, rice – farming tropical surroundings that was his home, for a humid, hilly, tea plantation. But he was not scared. He was a boy and was delighted. It was an exciting moment when he received the quarantine form from his father. That would enable him to travel without being detained at Mandapam camp. It was the first document that bore the name Savumiamoothy. So was he called until he took his clan name in 1932, after his marriage. It was after the Dipawali festival, Thondaman left his native village for Ceylon. He travelled by train to Dhanuskodi, accompanied by a relative, and crossed the Gulf of Mannar by a steamer. From Mannar he took train to Polgahawela, from there he traveled again by train- the Badulla train, to Gampola. His father, Karuppaiah, was at the railway-station to receive him. From Gampola, he was driven by motor-car to Ramboda, and was seated at the rear, with his father. It was his father's car, bought from a British planter. The steep and winding roads made Thondaman giddy and he vomited. His father was annoyed. He shouted at the driver to stop. He scolded, "You have dirtied my car. I bought it from a white 'dorai'." His admiration and respect for the white man was reflected the way he uttered the word 'dorai.' Ramboda fascinated Thondaman. He roamed the hills, bathed in the rivers and waterfalls, walked with his father from division to division, admiring the manicured green carpet of tea. It was a new experience and he enjoyed it thoroughly. He got the feel of the place and got to know the basics of his father's work. A few weeks after acclimatization, Thondaman was admitted to the 'estate school' in Wavendon. It was a room behind the estate office, where the children of the estate staff and kankanis gathered daily. The head clerk was the teacher. In between his normal work he taught them to read, write and add. He was there for three years. Karuppaiah's influence had, by then, spread far and wide in Nuwara Eliya. He did business with leading Colombo firms and the 'white dorais' on other estates. He realized that his ignorance of the English language was a great handicap. Therefore, he was determined that, his son should not suffer such a difficulty. He decided to admit Thondaman to St. Andrew's College, Gampola. He encountered two problems. First, Thondaman was overage; by then he was 14 years old. Second, the college insisted on a minimum qualification for admission: a pass in the third standard. An exemption was allowed only if a student brought a certificate of competence from a recognized school- teacher. Accordingly, Thondaman was sent to one such teacher, who coached him in three months to gain admission in the College. Thondaman was at St. Andrew's for five years, from 1927 to 1932. At the start he travelled daily from Ramboda by car, with his cousin Mathavan. Karuppaiah decided that it would be better, if the two boys resided at Gampola. The time they spent daily on the road could be gainfully used. So he started a business at Gampola, but it failed. He lost a fortune in that venture. Every Friday Thondaman went to Wavendon and returned to Gampola on Monday. He travelled up and down in the motor-lorries, that plied regularly on the Nuwara Eliya road. During the days he was at Wavendon, he worked with his father and assisted him. One of his duties was to go through the accounts. The day's account had to be balanced before he was permitted to go to bed. Thondaman learnt his accounting from his father, the hard way. One night, then he was 17 years old, Thondaman went through the day's accounts at Wavendon and found a cash shortage of one cent. "Go through it again and find out how that happened," his father admonished. He went through it again. The shortfall remained. He had to go through the whole mass of figures for a third time, to discover the source of that shortage. As boys always do, Thondaman soon mastered the art of managing such situation. He carried a few cents with him and when detected of such shortages, he would simply drop his money into the cash box! This training ingrained in Thondaman the habit of being careful with money. In 1950, when he was a member of the first parliament, he entered a London hospital for a throat operation. The operation was over and the doctors had warned him not to talk. A nurse announced that there was a telephone call from Colombo. It was from his wife, Kothai. It was difficult to get overseas calls those days. Thondaman decided to answer the call. He told his wife to be brief and asked her to hand over the receiver to others who had gathered around the telephone over there. He talked within those three minutes, to seven people, including the President of the Ceylon Indian Congress, S. Rajalingam! Thondaman was also trained by his father to be very careful about investments and never to take anything not of his due. In the London hospital, during the time of his throat operation, he also got his eyes examined. The doctor prescribed a pair of spectacles and ordered them under Britain's National Health Scheme. Thondaman declined to accept it and bought outside for 10 sterling pounds. After his discharge from the hospital, he bought himself three pairs of waterproof shoes. When the British press questioned the purpose behind that purchase, he told them: "These shoes are very costly in my country. I bought them to walk about in my estates." One day, while he was Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Thondaman told me that, some public corporations and government departments did not maintain proper accounts and millions of rupees went unaccounted. "Every time I noticed such things, I think of the sleepless hours I spent tracing back that one cent," he said. Drawn to Mahatma Gandhi. The year Thondaman joined St. Andrew' College in 1927, Mahatma Gandhi visited Ceylon. The Nagarathar Society of Colombo, an organization of the Nattukottai Chettiars, a powerful financial community, organized the visit. Mahatma Gandhi addressed meetings in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna. Thondaman was at school and did not attend any of them. But, he managed to read all his speeches in the Tamil papers. Thondaman had been drawn to Mahatma Gandhi, when he was at Muna Pudur. His teacher over there, was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and during those days, Gandhi was the main subject of conversation, at family gatherings. The Tamil papers in Tamil Nadu (Madras Presidency) were full of stories about him and Thondaman devoured them all. Gandhiji's message of non-violence and his austerity, the simple living experimented by him, impressed the young Thondaman. He was particularly struck by what Gandhiji said on November 13, at the Gintupitiya Hall, in Colombo: "You who are traders in this rich country and are bound to be truthful, straight and friendly with the local people. The people here are going to form their own opinion of the millions of Indians over in the mainland, from the manner you deal with them. So your behaviour should be fair and free of fault." Thondaman was impressed, also by the Kandy speech, in which Gandhiji had appealed to the 'great planters' to consider themselves the trustees not only of the body but the soul of their labourers, and asked them to take a personal interest in the lives of their workers. And he was deeply influenced by the ‘Baghvad Geetha,’ its concept of doing one's duty, even if it meant destroying one's own kith and kin, as preached by Lord Krishna to Arjuna. His life, his character and later the struggles he led, were moulded by Gandhiji and Lord Krishna. The Indian independence movement was gathering momentum at the time he was at St. Andrews and the Indian stalwarts, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajaji (C.Rajagopalachari), Kamaraj Nadar, Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Sardar Vallabai Patel, captured his imagination and that of the millions like him. His sister used to mail him Tamil newspapers, available in Karaikudi and many students use to borrow them from him. Discussing Indian politics was not taboo at St. Andrew's, although teachers frowned upon students who talked about local events. It was at that time, Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar and Rabindranath Tagore visited Ceylon. Thondaman was attracted by their speeches. Karuppaiah never suspected Thondaman's inclinations. He had different ideas for his son. In 1930, he fell sick, often. He could not endure the strenuous daily routine. He decided his son should marry and take over the management of the family estates and business ventures. After all, by then, Karuppaiah, had reached the age of seventy and Thondaman had grown into a sturdy robust youth. It was an arranged marriage for Thondaman - arranged by his mother Sithammai and his sister Adhilakshmy. They chose Kothai, a fair and dainty damsel, hailing from a respectable family, from the adjoining village, Kandaramanikkam. In keeping with tradition, Thondaman's sister tied the 'thali' (Mangala sutra) round Kothai's neck; Kothai became the wife of the absentee husband. The marriage took place in 1932. )Subsequently Thondaman visited Muna Pudur and was) Thondaman was with his wife in Muna Pudur for a little over a year. During that time, 1933, his only son, Ramanathan, was born. Drawn to Politics. Thondaman returned to Wavendon in 1933, leaving his wife and son behind in Muna Pudur. At Wavendon, a massive task awaited him. His father's health was failing. Thondaman spent most of his time managing the estate and the business. He also travelled twice to Muna Pudur to be with his wife and son. These were also the years when he was steadily drawn into politics. There was, at that time, an organization named the ‘Gandhi Seva Sangam,’ in Hatton. Youths like Rajalingam and Vellayan were its active members. They requested Thondaman, a rich youth by then with Gandhian leanings, to attend their meetings. Thondaman was reluctant, but persuaded by the Rajalingam, who was warm and friendly, he attended the meeting. He knew he would disappoint his father, if he show interest in politics. Karuppaiah was determined that his son should keep away from politics. At the very meeting attended by Thondaman, a resolution was adopted calling upon the government to take steps to alleviate the hardships of immigrant labor. There was yet another organization, called, the Bose Sangam, formed by the supporters of Subas Chandra Bose, the Indian freedom fighter. Thondaman attended some of its meetings too. Late in 1938, Karuppaiah fell seriously ill. He was confined to his room. Early every morning, an employee read the Tamil papers to him and Thondaman had to ask him not to read out the reports of his speeches. He knew his father would be disturbed, as well as pained, that his only son was being drawn into politics. By 1939, Karuppaiah's health began to deteriorate. He wished to have his daughter - in - law Kothai and his grandson Ramanathan with him. They were bought to Lanka in early 1939. Karuppaiah passed away in 1940. In the previous year Thondaman was elected, Chairman of the Gampola branch of the Ceylon Indian Congress. Two friends, D. Ramanujam and K. Subbaiah, one evening, had called at his Wavendon home. They told him that they wanted to form the branch of the Ceylon Indian Congress, at Gampola and invited him to be present at the inaugural meeting. At the meeting, Thondaman’s name was proposed for chairmanship. The proposal came to him as a shock. He was hesitant and reluctant to accept that position; but Ramanujam pressed him to accept it. Thondaman requested for time to consider. He told them he, that wanted to consult elders. The next morning, he went to Kandy and met P. Rajapriyar, a leading social worker and a family friend. Rajapriyar told him: "Young man, take it...some of us fight to get such positions...we go after such jobs...you are being offered it on a plate. Take it." Thondaman did so. "That was one of the most difficult decisions I had to take in my life," Thondaman recalled. "It was difficult because I was being pulled in opposite directions." At one end, his father who insisted that, politics was a pastime of the ‘Masters,’ the British. On the other end, it was his concern for the welfare of the workers. His interest in the downtrodden came from his mother, who was always kind to the poor and the sick and had got Thondaman to feed them whenever a poor visited their house at Muna Pudur. Interest in politics, he must have inherited from his clan, many of whom joined Mahatma Gandhi's independence struggle. Thondaman came to be aware of the abject poverty, in which the Indian Tamil labour lived, only after he came to Wavendon. He was not permitted to visit the line-rooms and was strictly forbidden to play with labourers' children. The estate school he studied for the first three years was not open to the laborers’ children. During the five years he studied at St. Andrew's College, he learnt more about the problems of Indian immigrants in Ceylon and the Indian independence struggle. The boys used to exchange the Tamil newspapers and magazines they got form India and one day, his friend gave him a paper with a poem by Kavignar Subramaniam Bharathi – poet laureate. Thondaman was so moved that he memorized it. He recited the poem to his friends. Mahatma Gandhi's visit in 1927 and the elections to the State Council in 1931, further fuelled Thondaman's interest in politics. The 1931 general elections was the first held in Sri Lanka, under adult franchise, introduced under the Donoughmore Constitution. Two Indian Tamils won seats in that election: S. P. Vythilingam (Talawakelle) and Peri Sundaram (Hatton.) On the votes of Tamil plantation workers, a European planter, A. Gorden Fellows, was elected to the Bandarawela seat. Thondaman did not play any active part in that election, but he followed it with interest. It gave him the opportunity to acquaint himself with the historical development of Indian representation in Ceylon's legislature. Ceylon became a British Crown colony in 1802 and a legislative council of sixteen members was established in 1833, on the recommendation of the Lieutenant Colonel Colebrooke Commission. Of these members, nine were officials and six non- officials, comprising three Europeans, one Sinhalese, one Tamil and one Burgher. The Planters' Association. formed in the 1830s and the merchants, wanted a bigger share in the country's administration, so that they could prod the executive to build roads and railways linking the estates to Colombo. It was they who agitated for a un-official majority and for financial power to the legislative council. In 1848 and 1855 they demanded that the number of un-official members be increased, because they were dissatisfied with the appropriation granted for the construction and maintenance of roads. In 1859, they revived their demand, angered at the collapse of government plans to build the railway from Colombo to Kandy. This led, Governor Sir Arthur Gordon to the inclusion of a Kandyan and a Muslim members, making the unofficial members to a total of eight. The number of official members too was also raised from 9 to 11. Middle class rises. It was around 1900, the Middle-class, which had emerged in the island in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, began to assert itself. The political awakening that had swept India, was the motive force. The rise of the new Ceylonese nationalism, and the agitation for political reforms, began to be the order of the day. This resulted in the strengthening of un-official members in the Legislative Council and in 1912, the introduction of the elective principle. The legislative Council was expanded to 21 members, eleven of whom were officials, the balance ten un-officials. Four of them were elected: one European urban, one European rural, one Burgher and one Educated Ceylonese. The Educated Ceylonese member was thus elected was the indomitable Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan. It was the legislative council of 1924, that made provision, for the first time, for the Indian Tamil representation. The Council comprised of 12 official and 37 unofficial members and had 23 elected on a territorial basis and eleven on a communal basis. Of the eleven communal representations Europeans had three (urban, rural and commercial), the Western Province - Ceylon Tamils one, Burghers 2, Indians 2 and Muslims 3. The franchise was confined to the British subjects, aged over 21 years, able to read and write English, Sinhalese or Tamil; who had resided in the electoral district and who enjoyed a clear annual income of not less than Rs. 600 or had other property qualifications. This restricted the franchise to about 4% of the people in the country. The actual number who were granted voting rights were 205,081, of which only 12,901 were Indian Tamils. Most of them were kankanis and other minor estate staff. Ignatius Xavier Pereira and S. K. Natesa Iyer were the two Indian representatives. Natesa Iyer had been in the legislature council earlier too. He succeeded S. R. Mohamed Sultan, the first Indian nominated to the legislature council of 1920. Sultan died a year later. The plight of the Indian Tamil labour was first highlighted in 1913 by Ponnambalam Arunachalam, the younger brother of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan. Though, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, derogated the Indian Tamil immigrants as 'Tamil estate coolies," Arunachalam launched a campaign against the Indian labour ordinances, which he said, were the main cause of the workers' low wages and "tyranny of unscrupulous recruiting men and bad employers." Earlier, ordinances enacted by the British - Indian government, were intended to facilitate the hire and retention of workers by the planters. Even the ordinance of 1865, a consolidation of a series of ordinances beginning in 1841 and ending in 1863, were intended to keep the laborer tied indebted to the kankani and the estate. These ordinances failed to stop labourers switching estates or kankanis transferring their gangs. From 1865 a series of ordinances were proclaimed to end this practice. The result was the infamous ‘Tundu System,’ originally known as the ‘Tin Ticket System.’ Under the Tin Ticket System, introduced in 1889, the coolies who were brought from India were first taken to a camp at Ragama and each of them issued a tin ticket, stamped with consecutive individual numbers, the estate number and the district letter. They were then sent by train to the station nearest to the estate and the transport charge was collected from the estate, through the kachcheri (the district secretariat). To the kankanis who went to Mannar to receive the labourers, tin tickets were issued in bulk. The individual numbers stamped on the tin tickets were entered in the check roll against the name of each worker. The Tin Ticket System introduced a new type of servitude that, Sir Ponnampalam Arunachalam opposed. The emergence of Indian nationalism at the same time exerted pressure on the British - Indian government, to safeguard the interests of emigrant labour. The result was the enactment of the Indian Immigration Labour Ordinance in 1923, which abolished the Tin Ticket System and the Minimum Wages (Indian) Labour Ordinance, in 1927, which fixed the minimum wage. K. Natesa Iyer It was at this time, and in this setting that K. Natesa Iyer, a Tanjore Brahmin who worked as a government clerk in Madras, was brought to Ceylon in 1920, to edit a Tamil newspaper, ‘Thesa Nesan,’ published by Arunachalam and Dr. E. V. Rathnam, executive members of the Ceylon National Congress. Natesa Iyer joined A. E. Goonesinhe's Ceylon Labour Union and quickly rose to be the vice-president. A large number of Malayalis and Indian Tamils were then working in the Colombo harbor and other government and private undertakings. Natesa Iyer, a powerful Tamil orator, brought them under the Ceylon Labour Union. From 1925, he took an interest in Indian plantation labour and wanted to organize them under the Ceylon Labour Union. Being watched by the police who branded him a communist and an agitator, he visited the estates dressed as a cloth merchant. In the legislative Council, he agitated for better working conditions for harbor, industrial and plantation workers. Outside, he urged plantation workers to join Goonesinhe's union. He played an important role in the 1927 harbor strike, where he led the Indian immigrant labour. When the government bought blacklegs from India, Natesa Iyer persuaded them not to work. ,But Natesa Iyer realized, in dismay and disappointment, that Goonesinhe was swiftly sliding into the Sinhala Maha Sabha founded by S.W.R. D. Bandaranaike, which was emerging as an alternative to the Ceylon National Congress from which platform Arunachalam, the Senanayake brothers (F. R. and D. S.) and Razik Fareed were agitating for political reforms. Natesa Iyer quit the Ceylon Labour Union in 1928, disgusted by Goonesinhe's anti-Indian campaign. Goonesinhe blamed the Indians for all the country's ills. He blamed them for the growing unemployment among the educated Sinhalese. He overlooked or ignored the actual causes: the global economic recession and the failure of the colonial government to crate new job opportunities. Goonesinhe prescribed a short cut solution to the unemployment problem: "Deport the Indians." From thence onward, Natesa Iyer devoted himself to cause of the estate labour. He founded the All Ceylon Estate Labour Federation, with the headquarters in Hatton. He launched a short-lived English language journal, "The Indian Estate Laborer" and published many pamphlets espousing this cause. He failed to make much progress because, he adopted an urban approach to a purely plantation problem. He also failed to identify himself with the life of the estate worker, because his background was completely different. Therefore, he only managed to identify himself with the estate workers, on a higher plane- intellectually. Besides, the Indian community failed to realize the strength of the emerging Sinhala communalism, till the closing years of the thirties. The introduction of universal franchise in 1931 and the evolution of the system of majority rule had concentrated power in Sinhala leadership. The First State Council was constituted in 7 July 1931, under the Donoughmore constitution. There were 61 members, of whom 50 were elected on territorial basis, eight nominated by the Governor and three were officials. Peri Sunderam was elected and was uncontested for Hatton. He became the Minister of Labour, Industry and Commerce. He was the first Indian Tamil to be a Minister. Meanwhile, S. P. Vytilingam won the Talawakelle seat and I. X. Pereira was nominated. The members in the state council were divided amongst the seven executive committees, headed by a member who was designated the minister. The seven ministers formed the Board of Ministers and its head was called the Leader of the State Council. The first State Council was dissolved on 7 December 1935. The second was inaugurated on 17 March 1935 and continued till 4 June 1947. Natesa Iyer contested Hatton and Peri Sunderam declined to stand for election, calling Natesa Iyer 'an upstart'. Natesa Iyer won easily. While, J. G. Rajakulendran won Bandarawela and Vytilingam Talawakelle. Pereira was nominated again. Ceylon Indian Congress. That was the political and trade union setting in which, the Ceylon Indian Congress was born. Actually, the two different sets of circumstances led to the CIC's emergence. The first was what has been termed the 'Chetty crisis'. Nattukottai chettiars who had migrated to Ceylon since the 1820s had carried on the business of banking, till the British banks were established in the 1840s. The Chettiyars then changed their role to that of middlemen. They borrowed from the banks and lent to planters and businessmen, at a slightly higher interest rate. This arrangement went on till 1925, when a Nattikottai chertier firm collapsed. This led to the exposure of malpractice by Nattukottai chertier firms and the banks stopped lending them money. To get over the sudden scarcity of cash, the chertier firms demanded repayment of their loans from their Ceylonese clients. The Ceylonese borrowers were themselves in financial straits owing to the global economic depression and defaulted payment. The chettiars put the promissory notes in suit and foreclosed their mortgages. The period 1930-36 was full of such cases. This resulted in an intense anti-chettiar campaign that created a sense of uncertainty in that community. The Nattukottai Chettiyar Sangam formed many years ago sat up and took notice. The anti-Indian sentiments that surfaced at this time, took many forms and directions. There was an outcry against toddy and arrack renters. Thus came about the Baratha Youth Association. Then there was an agitation to send back Malayalee harbour workers, government servants and even sanitary works from India. There was also a campaign to boycott Indian retail shops and Jaffna cigars. There was a general atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety among Indian migrants, which led to the proliferation of various associations intended to protect their interests. The most prominent and influential of all the Indian associations was the India Seva Sangam, with the leading businessman Valliappa Chettiar, as president. Abdul Azis, a young graduate from Bombay, who had migrated to Ceylon in the early thirties, was its Secretary. Other leading members were: S. Sangaralingam Pillai, P. T. Thanu Pillai, I. X. Pereira, Peri Sundaram, V. R. M. Subramaniam Chettiar, H. Nelliah Pillai and S. P. Vytilingam. Since, the anti-Indian campaign of Goonesinhe and the Sinhala Maha Sabha was catching up, an attempt was made to bring all the Indian associations together. A few joint-meetings were held, from time to time, to consider the question of the rights of people of Indian origin. These meetings produced two divergent views. The older generation wanted to co-operate with the British colonial rulers and obtain safeguards from them. The youth wanted to go along with the emerging Ceylonese nationalistic forces. Both these groups agreed that they must rope in the plantation workers who formed the bulk of the Indian community and constituted the most powerful sector. Two important events of this period merit mentioning. First, Goonasinhe, who won the 1936 State Council election on a communal platform, persuaded the council to pass a resolution, calling for the deportation of 15,000 Indians workers, despite strong opposition from Tamil members. Second, the decision of the State Council in 1939, to deport all Indians appointed to government service, after 1 April 1934 and to discontinue all Indians with less than ten years' service. D. S. Senanayake, the Leader of the State Council, moved the resolution. His nephew, John Kotelawela, Minister of Communication and Works, implemented the resolution by dismissing the Indian daily paid workers in his ministry. Those incidents jolted the Indian community in Ceylon. They realized the danger they faced. A special meeting of all the Indian associations was summoned. It passed two resolutions. The first condemned, the deportation move by the State Council. The second, authorized the working committee to take up the matter with the Indian National Congress and Mahatma Gandhi. Moving both these resolutions from the chair, Valliappa Chettiar said: "We have ignored the anti-Indian propaganda for long. Now, things have gone too far. We must act now or we will be the losers. We must get the Indian National Congress to intervene on our behalf." A two - member delegation was sent immediately, to meet Gandhiji. Vytilingam and Pereira were chosen for that purpose. They met Gandhiji in Delhi and briefed him. He sent Jawaharlal Nehru, as his special emissary to talk with the Ceylonese leaders. Nehru arrived in Colombo on 18 July and met the Leader of the State Council, D. S. Senanayake and some Ministers. They took an uncompromising stand. Senanayake told Nehru that many educated Ceylonese were unemployed and they would revolt, if foreigners were allowed to deprive them of their jobs. All efforts at persuasion failed. Nehru also met all the Indian organizations, separately and jointly. He advised them to unite if they were to preserve their rights and privileges. He reiterated this message at every meeting he addressed. The Nattukottai Chettiar Sangam, gave Nehru a reception on 22 July. Nehru made an impassioned plea for unity. He said: "I see only one way out of this crisis. That is unity. You must get together under one flag. You must form a single organization, like the Indian National Congress." He spelled out a four - point program of action. All Indians living in Colombo should unite. The different organizations in Colombo should be welded into a single organization. The plantation workers and others outside Colombo, should also be brought under the single organization. That unified organization should voice the problems of the Indian Tamils. Nehru found, to his surprise, that it was difficult to bring these organizations together. No one was prepared to sacrifice the position or power, they enjoy. After much persuasion, the organizations agreed to give unity a try. The negotiations started at nine o'clock on 24 July 1939. It was a lengthy meeting. They argued over everything. The elders suggested the united association should be named the Ceylon Indian Central Association. The youth wanted it to be called the Ceylon - Indian National Congress. There were already two organizations so named. "I am tired," Nehru said. They also quarreled over the membership in the interim committee. It was around 10 p.m, Nehru was getting sick of the whole thing, he said, "I am tired. I want to go and sleep for some time. Before I go, I wish to place my suggestion for your consideration. Please consider it and if you reach an agreement wake me up." He gave them a five - point formula. It was that the Ceylon Indian Central Association and the Ceylon Indian National Congress should be dissolved. An interim committee of 18 people should be elected. It should comprise of a chairman, two joint secretaries and a treasurer. The remaining membership of 14 would be divided equally, between the two organizations. This 18-member committee would co-opt seven members from the other associations. This 25-member committee would function as the executive committee of the new organization, to be named the Ceylon Indian Congress. After a prolonged, three-hour debate, the delegates decided to accept the Nehru formula. They woke him up at 1.20 a.m., on 25 July 1939. All delegates present at that early morning session, signed a declaration setting up the Ceylon Indian Congress. Nehru signed that document as a witness and a guarantor. The committee met the same day and elected V. R. M. V. A. Lakshmanan Chettiar - a 'neutral' - as the President, and H. M. Desai and A. Aziz, as joint secretaries. The constitution of the organization was drawn up that day, under the guidance of Nehru and it was agreed that, the first session held in September. Next evening, 26 July, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, then a common organization of all Marxists, arranged a public rally at Galle Face green. Nehru was invited to address that public meeting, on the Indian independence struggle and about the talks he had had with the Ceylon government, on the Indian Tamil problem. Nehru delivered a memorable speech and Dr. Colvin R. De Silva interpreted it to the Sinhala audience. A. E. Goonesinhe's thugs started hooting and tried to disrupt the meeting. Nehru got annoyed and agitated, and he attempted to jump into the crowd to chase the rabble-rousers. But, Dr.Colvin R.De Silva, dissuaded Nehru, held him tight and prevented him from getting into the crowd. Meanwhile, Nehru wanted the CIC to form district committees in all the major towns in the plantation areas. He set August as the deadline. The CIC took immediate action to form district committees in Gampola, Badulla, Hatton, Balangoda, Matale and Nuwara Eliya. The district committee at Gampola was formed within a month after the founding of the CIC. Thondaman was elected the head of the Gampola district committee at a meeting held on 13 August 1939. He attended that meeting without the knowledge of his father. While the Indian leaders were busy organizing the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC),A.E. Goonesinhe and his supporters were making things worst for the Indian Tamils. Goonesinhe had become the Secretary of the Sinhala Maha Sabha, and his anti-Indian campaign was becoming more vigorous and vindictive. The government served notice to discontinue the services of 800 Indians workers in Colombo. The government also issued a circular, instructing the heads of government departments, not to recruit Indians. The Galle Urban Council passed a resolution calling on the government not to employ Indians. "Keep it up young man." At the insistence of Gandhiji and Nehru, the Indian National Congress passed a resolution criticizing Ceylon's bid to deport the Indians. The Ceylon Indian Congress followed suit. India retaliated in 1939, by imposing a ban on emigration of unskilled workers to Ceylon. This ban was a ‘watershed’ in the history of Indo - Lanka relations and in the history of the Indian immigrants. People, who had been moving freely between the two countries for over a century, were suddenly told to decide to make either India or Ceylon their home. A vast majority chose Ceylon. The CIC executive committee was not very active. Lakshmana Chettiar was busy contesting the Puthukottai seat in the Madras Sate assembly election. He had been a member of that electorate earlier too, and had won the 1939 August election with a convincing majority. Initial enthusiasm in the CIC began to fade a little. There was not enough enthusiasm among the district committees, to host the inaugural convention. No one had the necessary financial backing to undertake that massive task. The Gampola district officials were worried. K. Rajalingam, a committee member, called on Thondaman, at Wavendon one evening, in July 1940, with D. Ramanujam and Subbaiah. It was Ramanujam who broached the topic apologetically, "One year had elapsed since the founding of the CIC. Nehruji wanted the inaugural sessions to be held not later than September last year. The leadership is anxious to have it in the hill country. But no district committee is willing to host the sessions," he said. "Why?" Thondaman asked. "They say that they don't have the money," Subbaiah interjected. Thondaman thought for a while and asked: "Shall we host it?" Rajalingam asked: "How are we to find the money?" "We will try and collect some," Thondaman said. A week later the Gampola district committee met. Besides the four who met at Wavendon, others present were S. Chokalinam Chettiar, Treasurer, S. Somasundaram, S. G. Samson, V. Slaphappy Chettiyar, J. Samuvel, V. Annamalai, M. Ramasubramaniam, S. K. R. Ramalingam, S. Charles and V. Murugappah. The committee decided to host the inaugural sessions and resolved to set up a reception committee to make the arrangements. They asked Thondaman to head it. Thondaman, Rajalingam and Ramanujam, went to Colombo to meet the CIC president, Lakshmanan Chettiar and inform him of their decision to host the inaugural session. Chettiar told them that, there was a move to hold it in Badulla and Aziz was organizing it. Thondaman assured Chettiar that, they would make the inauguration a big show and finally won his consent. It was, in fact, a big show. It was held on 7 and 8 September 1940 in Gampola town, in a huge enclosure, named 'Nehru Nagar'. They also organized a carnival. Over one and a half lakh of people of the Indian origin attended the proceedings of the Conference. Two guests were invited from Madras. One was V. V. Giri, then a labour leader and later, the President of India, the other one was S. Sathiyamoorthy, the well respected Indian National Congress leader and a masterly orator. Thondaman delivered the welcome speech. It was his first major speech. He had only addressed small gatherings before. But that day, there were thousands present and Sathiyamoorthy was on stage. Thondaman was nervous, but as he started to speak, some inner force impelled him. He spoke with force and conviction. First he explained, why the Indian immigrants had failed to organize themselves earlier. "We felt that there was no necessity to have a separate organization because our relationship with the Sinhalese was very good." Then he said, the emerging political awareness among the Sinhala people had been misdirected into an anti-Indian movement. He also analyzed the different discriminatory laws that had been so far enacted against the plantation workers and the Indian Tamils. Then he dealt with the charge that, Indians always ran to India and to the Indian National Congress for support. "Can you expect a minority community, that had been subjected to repeated harassment and discrimination, not to get the support of someone sympathetic?" he asked. He then traced the circumstances in which the CIC was formed and said: "The CIC is a democratic organization. All its members, whether rich or poor, enjoy similar rights. The CIC will not be the puppet of any rich individual or groups of individuals." After his scintillating speech, Sathiyamoorthy went up to Thondaman and congratulated him "Keep it up young man," he said. Indeed, Thondaman kept it up and grew into a popular and reputed political leader.

The Blundering Years In a recent interview, Thondaman described the two key decades -forties to fifties-as the "years of mistakes." "When I look back, those twenty years caused all the miseries we suffered and are now trying to correct," he said. A review of the events of that period seems to prove him correct. The tempo of anti - Indianism accelerated in 1940s. The government realized for the first time that, India's ban on the emigration of labour had left on the Ceylon's lap, over six lakhs of Indians, who opted not to return to their original homes. This unexpected development upset the local administration. A delegation led by D. S. Senanayake and S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, went to Delhi to take up the matter with the Indian Viceroy. The Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC) decided to present its viewpoint too. A delegation was hurriedly sent with Peri Sundaram, as its leader and Desai, Motha and Abdul Aziz, as members. At the discussions, Senanayake took up the position that, all Indian Tamils in Ceylon, were Indian nationals and should be taken back by India. The Indian government argued that, most of the Indians had settled down in Ceylon for many years and had acquired the right to continue living there. Bandaranaike said that Ceylon could ill afford to have more than two lakhs of Indians and the balance should be taken back by India. The Indian officials declined to accept that too. Peri Sundaram submitted that Indians with long residence had qualified to become Ceylon citizens and the choice should be left to the people. That was the first occasion Ceylonese leaders went to Delhi seeking a solution to the Indian problem. The rising wave of anti-Indianism prompted large numbers of Indians to join the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC). At the time of the Gampola Sessions, the membership had swelled to over two lakhs and the majority of them were plantation workers, thus compelling the CIC to take interest in the working conditions of estate workers. Birth of Labour Union When the CIC leadership took up matters concerning plantation workers, estate managements adopted the position that, they cannot negotiate with political parties. This led to the formation of the trade union wing, called the Ceylon Indian Congress Labour Union (CICLU), in May 1940, four months before the Gampola Sessions. Thondaman was elected its leader and Aziz as secretary. Thondaman, though a novice, was backed by Peri Sundaram, a veteran in politics. Peri Sundaram argued that, Thondaman was worth his weight in gold and had the time and money to spare for union work. He also said that, Thondaman possessed an inborn quality for leadership. Peri Sundaram's group voted for Thondaman and within years, he blossomed as the leader of Peri Sundarm's group. Thondaman's first meeting with Peri Sundaram, was soon after he left school. His father took him along, when he called on Peri Sundaram in Colombo, to discuss a business transaction. The meeting that took place in Peri Sundaram's study brought the two close. Like Thondaman, Aziz was also from India and came to join his father. Thondaman came when young, lived and grew in the estate. He studied in an estate environment and his thinking and views were fashioned by that environment. Whereas Aziz's upbringing and environment were different. He joined his father in Colombo, after graduating in commerce, at Bombay University. He joined the YMCA forum. He was more intellectually bent, theoretical in approach and had the inclination of the left leaning. His trade unionism was born out of his leftist political thinking. This difference in the makeup of these two men, impacted heavily on the fate and the history of the Indian Tamils. Tilting to the Left They clashed for the leadership of the CIC in 1942, at the second sessions held in Kandy. That was also the first session of the CIC Labour Union. Aziz polled 31 votes to Thondaman's 19, at the general council. And Aziz tilted the CIC to the left, in keeping with his ideology, that was the fashion, at that time. That cost the Indian community fatally. That was one of the two errors Thondaman had adverted to in his interview. The following years were some of the most difficult in the history of the CICLU. With the Second World War at its height, defense regulations were in operation. Planters, naturally, made full use of the situation and victimized the workers who joined the union. Trade union officials were not admitted to the estates. Anyone flouting these orders was arrested and charged under the Criminal Trespass Ordinance. Aziz, Thondaman and other leaders met the workers stealthily, outside at night and enrolled them. The workers were hurt over this situation. There were strikes all over the plantations. The unrest forced Labour Minister G. C. S. Corea to summon the CICLU and the Employers' Federation for talks. They reached an agreement, called the ‘Seven Point Agreement,’ which was intended to regulate the relationship between unions and employers. In the second half of 1942, Geoffrey Layton, Commander - in - Chief of the British armed forces, who was in overall control of the island, decided to freeze the dearness allowance paid to plantation workers. The CICLU executive committee met in an emergency session and directed its president, Aziz to take up the matter with Layton. Layton refused the request. Aziz then wrote to him of the CICLU decision to contest the matter in court. Layton relented and ordered payment of the allowance. Layton was not prepared to take defeat. He waited his moment to pounce on the CICLU. The opportunity came in March 1943. At the CICLU's second annual sessions at Badulla, Aziz attacked the government for it's anti - Indianism and for neglecting estate labour. He was charged in the district court, of causing disaffection against the government and obstructing the war effort. The district court committed Aziz for trial to the Supreme Court. Aziz was remanded at Welikada Prison. S.Nadesan, Aziz's attorney, advised him to ask for a Tamil - speaking jury. Nadesan, who admitted the speech, argued that Aziz was entitled to his freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Aziz was acquitted, six of the seven jurors holding him not guilty. By this time there was political turmoil in South Asia. The Indian independence movement had gathered momentum. Its impact was also felt in Ceylon. There was a demand for constitutional reform. Britain sent the Soulbury Commission that arrived in Colombo in 1944. Tamil Congress leader, G. G. Ponnambalam, was toying with his famous "50-50" demand - that 50 percent of the parliamentary seats should be reserved for the minorities. It was at this time that the CIC's third annual session was held in Hatton. Chakaravarthi Rijagopalachchari ("Rajaji") was the chief guest. Ponnanmbalam met Rajaji to canvas the Indian leader's support for the 50-50 formula. Rajaji told Ponnambalam to drop the demand, that it was not practicable. He also warned Ponnambalam that such a solution, even if it were achieved, would be merely temporary. The CIC delegation, led by president Aziz, general secretary Vaithilingam and Thanu Pillai also had a discussion with Ponnambalam. They could not work out an acceptable formula to share the 50 percent of the seats Ponnambalam was claiming for the minorities. Misplaced Trust The CIC general council, then, decided to give evidence before the Soulbury Commission. The CIC delegation, led by A.Aziz, requested constitutional safeguards for the citizenship and voting rights of the people of recent Indian origin. Aziz, when questioned by Lord Soulbury about CIC's stand on the independence demand, he told that, the CIC did not want the British to continue their rule in Ceylon, on the pretext of safeguarding the rights of minorities. Many Indian Tamil leaders were dissatisfied with Aziz's reply. They feared that once the British left, the Indian Tamils would be at the mercy of the chauvinistic Sinhala leadership, to whom power would be transferred. Their fear was fuelled by the insidious campaign that all Indian Tamils should be either deported or disfranchised. Aziz argued otherwise. He said it was immoral for a party founded by Jawaharlal Nehru to oppose independence. He argued that, the chauvinistic Sinhala forces were in the minority and that Indian Tamils should align themselves with the progressive forces of the Left and safeguard their rights, by bringing in a Leftist government. He also held that, the Sinhala campaign was actually against the Indian merchant community, not against the plantation workers. He tilted the CIC towards the left. Aziz failed to get any substantial guarantees from the Soulbury Commission. Ponnambalam's fifty - fifty demand, was totally rejected. The Soulbury Commission in its report said: "We are not inclined to agree that,, the system of representation recommended by the All Ceylon Tamil Congress contains the germs of development and we do not regard it as a natural evolution from the constitution of 1921 and 1924. On the contrary, we would describe a system which purported to re-impose communal representation in the rigid form, contemplated as static rather than dynamic and we should not expect to find in it seeds of a healthy and progressive advance towards parliamentary self-government". It was in this setting that, Thondaman was emerging as a factor to be reckoned with. He was elected president of the CIC and the CICLU in 1945, at the Nuwara Eliya sessions. Defeating Aziz, he concentrated his energies in building up the party and the trade union. The major test for him came in 1946. The members of 360 Indian Tamil families employed in Knavesmire Estate in Bulathkohupitiya were asked to quit the estate which was acquired by the government for village expansion. The workers refused to leave and were not given work. They appealed to the CIC, which assisted them. The estate superintendent filed action for criminal trespass. In the first case Kegalle magistrate sentenced Selvanayagam who was born in that estate and lived in it for three and a half decades to two months rigorous imprisonment. He appealed. Others were sentenced from three months hard labour and a fine of Rs. 100 each to a simple fine of Rs. 10. The trial dragged on for over three years. Selvanayagam's appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed and he was jailed. He succeeded in his appeal to the Privy Council that held that a worker who had lived in the estate for such a long period could not be considered a trespasser. The CICLU fed the workers and funded their legal battle. It did not have that money. Thondaman offered to pay it himself. He mortgaged his estate. The case cost Thondaman over Rs. 2 lakhs. Thondaman did not limit himself to the legal battle. He called out the CICLU members in the Hatton, Ratnapura, Yatiyantota and Kegalle districts. The strike lasted 21 days. He also threatened to cripple the entire estate sector if the government failed to respond D. S. Senanayake, who held the Ministry of Agriculture, summoned the Indian Representative in Colombo, Aney, and started negotiations. They both met the Governor, Sir Henry Monck - Moore and urged him to pardon all 360 workers. While the CICLU was strengthening its political and trade union base, the Soulbury Commission recommended independence for Ceylon. Enters Parliament A general election was held in 1947,to elect 95 members to the first Parliament. The CIC decided to contest eight seats and won seven. Thondaman contested Nuwara Eliya and won it with a 6135 majority. He polled 9386 votes against James Rutnam's 3251 and Lawrence Perera's 1124. Others elected on the CIC ticket, were George R. Motha (Maskeliya), K. Rajalingam (Nawalapitiya), K. Kumaravel (Kotakella), C. V. Velupillai (Talawakelle), S. M. Subbaiah (Badulla) and D. Ramanujam (Aluthnuwara). The CIC lost the Haputale seat. Motha died two years later and A.Aziz won Maskeliya in the by - election in March 1950. The United National Party (UNP), founded two years earlier by the amalgamation of the Ceylon National Congress and the Sinhala Maha Sabha and was led by D. S. Senanayake, won 42 seats in the 101 - member Parliament. Senanyake formed the government with the help of independents and the six nominated members. The CIC parliamentary group elected Thondaman, as its leader and sat in the opposition and worked closely with the 18 - member Left group (LSSP - 10, BLP - 5 and CP - 3), the Tamil Congress (7) and the Labour Party (1). Thondaman was disenchanted with the Leftists, because they missed an opportunity to form the government due to their failure to agree on a common candidate for Prime Ministership. They too could not agree on a common candidate for the Leader of the Opposition. LSSP leader, DR. N. M. Perera functioned unofficially as Opposition Leader until the BLP, led by Dr. Colvin R. de Silva joined the LSSP. Then Dr. Perera officially became Leader of the Opposition. The bill was presented to Parliament, by the Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake, who said that every country had the right to determine the persons who would be its citizens. He argued that, the Indian immigrants brought by the British colonial rulers, had no abiding interest in the country and they regarded themselves as temporary residents. They had deprived the real sons and daughters of the soil, the Kandyan Sinhalese, of their land and work. Thondaman, leader of the CIC group, met all those arguments effectively. He said that they might have come as temporary residents, but majority of them had settled there voluntarily. Many of them had been in Lanka for two or three generations and had not gone to India. "They are not temporary but permanent residents. They are more the sons and daughters of the soil, than most of the Sinhalese," he thundered. On the question of depriving the Kandyan Sinhalese of land and work, he gave a detailed analysis of the true situation. The lands that were cleared for planting coffee and later tea, were forestlands that belonged to the state. "My people toiled and made the waste land productive," he argued. Thondaman claimed that he and his people were as much Kandyan as anyone else was. "It's my home," he said, "I and my family is more attached to the Kandyan land than many Kandyans." J.R. Jayewardene who was then Finance Minister quipped: "A Kandyan Tamil." "Yes", Thondaman said, "I'm a Kandyan Tamil." He contested the question of loyalty too. He said the CIC had supported the independence demand as much as the UNP. Weakening the Tamil People The left parties joined the CIC in opposing the Citizenship Bill. They said that it was a clever attempt by the UNP, to weaken the working class and prevent the Left parties from capturing power through elections. The Tamil Congress leader, Ponnambalam, said the real purpose of the Bill was to weaken the Tamil people and that it was a “black day” for Ceylon. Having deprived the Indian Tamils of their citizenship, D.S. Senanayake presented to parliament another bill, The Indian and Pakistani (Residents) Citizenship Bill, in 1949, to enable them to regain citizenship. It laid down stringent qualifications for that purpose. Married persons were required to prove continued residence of seven years from 1 January 1939. Unmarried persons had to establish ten yeas of continued residence, beginning 1 January 1936. They were also expected to have adequate means of livelihood. Their families normally should have been resident in Lanka and they should be capable of observing the laws of the land. On the face of it, the law looked reasonable, but the procedural and administrative requirements were so designed, to deny the majority of persons the citizenship. The phrase 'continuous residence,' was given the strictest interpretation, thus preventing even those persons, who traveled to India on a brief holiday, from acquiring citizenship. Insisting on the production of birth certificates and other such documents, made Citizenship an almost impossible goal. During the debate in Parliament, Thondaman highlighted this difficulty. He challenged Dudley Senanayake to produce his grandfather's birth certificate. He said many people who migrated to Ceylon, did not possess birth certificates. Soon after the enactment of the Ceylon Citizenship Act, an important development took place in the political scene. The Tamil Congress decided to join the D.S.Senanayake’s Government and that caused a split in the party. Ponnambalam and four others joined the Government. Ponnambalam was rewarded with the Industries and Fisheries ministry. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and C. Vanniasingham resigned from the Tamil Congress and formed the All Ceylon Federal Party. Thondaman welcomed the new party. He telephoned Chelvanayakam and expressed his pleasure and suggested close collaboration between the CIC and the Federal Party. Ponnambalam voted with the government for the Indian and Pakistani (Residents) Citizenship Bill, though he had earlier signed an agreement with the CIC to oppose it. C. Suntharalingam who had earlier voted for the disfranchising bill, spoke against the second legislation and resigned his portfolio. The Federal Party opposed the bill and voted against it. Chelvanayakam and Vanniasingham used their legal punditry, to show how unreasonable were the qualifications and conditions set for citizenship. The leftists too, criticized the law as being too harsh. The law allowed time for people of Indian and Pakistani origin, to apply for citizenship. The CIC working committee met immediately and after intense discussion decided that no one should apply. Over 90 percent of the people of Indian origin abided by the CIC directive. They did not submit their application. The CIC Executive Committee granted exception to the seven MPs, to enable them to retain their seats in Parliament. When Thondaman staked his claim for citizenship, the Assistant Commissioner who dealt with the application, asked him to disclose all the details, asked for by the special regulation. He declined to do so. "I've proved my case. Now it is your duty to make a ruling. If it is rejected I will go to courts," Thondaman replied. Peri Sundaram who was told of this dispute, advised Thondaman to supply the details asked for. "I will not do that. They are asked for the details, that they want to use against me. I am not prepared to furnish evidence against me," Thondaman protested. The Commissioner of Immigration to whom the matter was referred decided to grant the citizenship. In his letter the Commissioner told Thondaman: "Please do not adopt this non-cooperative attitude in the future." While the CIC was busy with the boycott, a major change occurred in the national political scene. D. S. Senanayake fell from his horse while taking his regular morning ride in the Galle Face Green and died the following day, 22 March 1952. Dudley Senanayake, his son, was sworn in as the new Prime Minister, confirming the suspicions of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who left the U.N.P. a few months earlier and formed his own political party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Bandaranaike broke away because, he thought D. S. Senanayake was grooming his nephew, John Kotelawela, or his son as successor. The breaking point came when D. S. Senanayake declined to appoint Bandaranaike as acting prime minister, during his visit to Australia. To cash in on the tremendous wave of public sympathy on the death of D. S. Senanayake, Dudley called for the elections on 28 April 1952. He conducted a virulent communal campaign to win extremist Sinhala support which, unlike the 1947 election, was being weaned away from the UNP, by the newly formed SLFP. Dudley also faced a formidable challenge from the Sama Samajists and Communists, who had organized the urban working class, into powerful trade unions. Inaugurating the election campaign at Kelaniya, Dudley thundered: "The Sama Samajists and Communists are embracing the Indians as comrades…I want to remind you that, the Indian government threatened to give no rice supplies to Ceylon, if the land of Knavesmere estate was not allotted to 360 Indian workers." The Indian High Commission in Colombo, immediately refuted the charge and said that, India at no stage had brought the question of rice supply into those negotiations. The High Commission statement said that, India had only expressed a desire that, the rice should also be distributed to Indian estate labor. That request stemmed from the government's earlier discriminatory practices of forgetting estate labour in food distribution. It happened again in 1972 and led to prolonged negotiations and strikes. The election made the Indian Tamil community realize the plight to which it been reduced. The seven parliamentarians, who had registered themselves as Ceylon citizens and continued to be in Parliament even after the citizenship act, now found that they had no chance of re-entering the legislature. The CIC in its statement said, "Only a handful of us are now allowed to exercise citizenship." Beating the Police After careful consideration, CIC decided to launch a Satyagraha - a peaceful, non-violent, protest. An action committee headed by Thondaman was set up for that purpose. The Badulla sessions held in the third week of April, decided the campaign should begin on April 28. The CIC issued a statement to that effect, at the conclusion of the sessions. The statement said that, through the Satyagraha the CIC sought to "appeal to the country's conscience". It made it clear that in the Satyagraha: "There is and can be no trace of intimidation or vilification of the government or any section of the people." The statement added that, as recourse to peaceful agitation had failed, a Satyagraha was launched to focus public’s attention on the injustice inflicted on the people, who toil to keep the wheels of the economy moving. Through the Satyagraha they intended to seek the sympathy of the people and the blessing of God. The law suit filed by the CIC, challenging the validity of the citizenship acts and the amendment to the franchise law, had been rejected by the Supreme Court and the appeal against that decision was at that time went before the Privy Council. At 11.15 a.m. on Monday, 28 April 1952, a procession of 41 Satyagrahis led by Thondaman and Aziz, marched with placards declaring: "We want citizenship and franchise". Thondaman was dressed in pure kadar verti (waist cloth) and shirt and Aziz in white sharwani. They marched from the CIC head office at No. 213, Main Street, Pettah, in the direction of Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake's office, located in the Senate building, where foreign ministry is now situated. The procession was halted at the junction of York Street by police and ordered to disperse. Thondaman told satyagrahis to stop where they were and he surged forward with Aziz to meet the police inspector. “We are marching peacefully. Why do want us to disperse?" Thondaman asked the police. "That was our order," the police inspector replied politely. "We're not going to disperse," Aziz said. The inspector ordered his men to carry the satyagrahis to the police vans parked nearby. They were carried in the vans and dropped at various points in the city. Thondaman and Aziz were dropped near Wellawatta. They boarded a bus and returned to Fort. They asked for an interview with Sir Kandiah Vaithianathan, Secretary to the Prime Minister, and sat down on the verandah, outside the Prime Minister's office. Other satyagrahis came back and squatted in Gordon Gardens, then a small public garden in front of the Senate building. They were again loaded into two or three vans and dropped at different places. Thondaman and Aziz were dropped at their respective residences. On the second day, April 29, police were in for a surprise. Thondaman and Aziz arrived at the Prime Minister's office before dawn and sat outside on the verandah. Many other satyagrahis joined them. At the same time, Rajalingam and 50 satyagrahis gathered outside Parliament building, at Galle Face and occupied the steps. Police arrived a little later and asked Rajalingam and his group to leave. They refused and were transported by vans to Victoria Park. Thondaman and Aziz were taken by van and dropped at Homagama, about 25 kilometers from Colombo. On the third day, April 30, four groups performed Satyagraha, at four different places. Thondaman and Aziz and a group of fifty others were at the Senate building before dawn. Police removed them as on previous day, and dropped them about 25 kilometers away on the Kandy road. Sinhala peasants offered them water and refreshment, but some car owners refused to give them a lift, when they realized who they were. A Sinhala schoolmaster took them to a bus halt in his car, although he was told their identity. Thondaman and Aziz returned to Colombo by bus and took up their positions again. But they were removed and dropped at Arakamala, on the Ingriya road. The second batch, led by Rajalingam, sat on the grounds opposite the Ministry of Home Affairs throughout the day. The Inspector General of Police walked up to Rajalingam and told him to desist from such action. "We are performing this Satyagraha not to hurt anyone. This is not even an anti - government act. We are doing this only to draw the attention of the people and the government to the injustice done to their brothers" Rajalingam replied. "You are creating a law and order problem and it may lead to breach of the peace," the IGP said. "No. There's no possibility of that. We've taken a pledge not to indulge in any violence," Rajalingam replied. "All right. All right," the IGP said and walked away. Punching the Horse The third group, 30 satyagrahis led by Kumaravelu, R. M. Selliah and V. R. Sevaga Perumal sat on the verandah of the Ministry of Justice. An inspector and ten police constables surrounded them and assaulted them with batons. They also abused them. The fourth group, led by S. M. Palanisamy and T. M. Ramasamy, performed Satyagraha on the premises of the Ministry of Food. They refused to disperse and finally, in the evening, were assaulted and dispersed. Some of the satyagrahis on their way to join Thondaman and Aziz, at the Senate building, were taken and locked up in a tiny room, in the Fort police station. After they had been there for some time, they were herded into a police van and were dropped at different places on the Negombo road. Colombo grew tense and people began to gather opposite government offices, to watch the satyagraha. The police presence was evident everywhere and public attention was drawn to the citizenship problem. For the first three days, the English language dailies ignored the satyagraha. By Thursday, they could not ignore it no longer. So they started printing protest letters from insignificant Indian Tamil merchant groups. They wrote lengthy editorials about the dangerous situation the satyagraha could create. In India Satyagraha made big news and the Indian government handed an aide memoir to the Lankan High Commissioner, in New Delhi. The Indian Prime Minister, Jawarharlal Nehru referred to the Satyagraha movement in one of his speeches. On the fourth day, May 1, the government's attitude changed. Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake came out of his office and asked Thondaman, and Aziz, who were fasting outside, to come in. He had a friendly chat and told them that he had instructed the police not to interfere with the satyagraha or the relay fast in which batches of 50 took turn to fast before prime minister's office and parliament. Rajalingam and his group were bundled into a van and dropped at Padukka on that day, because instructions had not reached them. They were given tea and short eats by the Sinhala villagers who also put them into a Colombo-bound bus. For 140 days, satyagraha and relay fast continued but, the general election was held on schedule in May, and Dudley romped home with a comfortable majority. Not a single Indian Tamil won a seat and not even a nominated membership was given to them. The new parliament was ceremonially opened on June 2 under heavy guard. The CIC staged the satyagraha that day too. About 15 volunteers entered the Parliament premises in their cars, pretending to be invitees and climbed up the ceremonial flight of steps. Police surrounded them and asked them to leave. "We have come as former members of Parliament, to present a petition to the Prime Minister who is inside," Thondaman told the police. Police contacted Dudley Senanayake, who ordered that, they be thrown out. Police then seized them physically and threw them out on to the parliament lawn. Aziz walked to the parapet wall along the Galle Road and sat on it. Police went after him and asked him to move. He refused. Police then relented and allowed him to sit there. Within parliament all the new MPs assembled. They were from the UNP, SLFP, Federal Party, LSSP. CP and Tamil Congress. But only W. Dahanayake went out to see them. Dahanayake took with him a jar of water and a few glasses. Thondaman walked up to him and thanked him. He and Aziz drank the water. They then sat down on the lawn. The enraged police ordered the mounted division to push them back. A mounted policeman rode straight into them, but Thondaman jumped and caught the reins. He gave the horse a strong punch close to the animal's nose. That unsettled the rider and upset the white stallion. Rider and horse then withdrew. The CIC withdrew the Satyagraha campaign as it found the government relentless. It also withdrew its boycott and advised Indian Tamils to apply for citizenship. About 850,000 of them did so.