G. G. Ponnambalam

Ponnambalam was born on 8 November 1901.{{cite web|title=Directory of Past Members: Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam|url=http://www.parliament.lk/en/members-of-parliament/directory-of-past-members/viewMember/2556|publisher=Parliament of Sri Lanka}}{{cite news|last1=Vinayagamoorthy|first1=A.|author-link1=A. Vinayagamoorthy|title=103rd Birth Anniversary today : G. G. Ponnambalam – Founder of ACTC|url=http://archives.dailynews.lk/2003/11/08/fea08.html|work=Daily News|date=8 November 2003}}{{cite book|last1=Ponnambalam|first1=G. G.|title=G.G. Ponnambalam: The Marathon Crusade for 50-50 (Balanced Representation) in the State Council 1939|date=2001|publisher=Manimekalai Prasuram|page=xxxvii|url=http://new.sangam.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Ponnambalam-50-50-Speech1.pdf|access-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202101430/http://new.sangam.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Ponnambalam-50-50-Speech1.pdf|archive-date=2 February 2017|url-status=dead}}{{Efn|Another source gives Ponnambalam's date of birth as 8 November 1902.{{cite book|last=Arumugam|first=S.|title=Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon|url=http://noolaham.net/project/19/1810/1810.pdf|year=1997|page=141|author-link=S. Arumugam}}}} He was the son of Gangaser, a postmaster from Alvaly in northern Ceylon. He was educated at St. Patrick's College, Jaffna and St. Joseph's College, Colombo.{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CK17Df01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020208193722/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CK17Df01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2002-02-08|chapter=Chapter 15: Turbulence in any language}}{{cite news|last1=Dwight|first1=Richard|title=I come from the land of the Buddha|url=http://archives.dailynews.lk/2010/10/12/fea10.asp|work=Daily News|date=12 October 2010}} Ponnambalam joined Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge on a government scholarship, graduating with a first class degree in natural sciences tripos.{{cite news|last1=Ponnambalam|first1=Kumar|author-link1=Kumar Ponnambalam|title="Fifty-Fifty" my father's cry|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070204/News/117news.html|work=The Sunday Times|date=4 February 2007}}{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=A. Jeyaratnam|title=Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries|year=2000|publisher=C. Hurst & Co.|isbn=1-85065-519-7|page=66|author-link=A. Jeyaratnam Wilson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AQcVvbHzdcC}}{{cite book|last1=Dissanayake|first1=T. D. S. A.|author-link1=T. D. S. A. Dissanayake|title=War Or Peace in Sri Lanka|date=2005|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=81-7991-199-3|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfkLyH95m9MC}} He also received LL.B. and MA degrees from Cambridge.

Ponnambalam married Rose Alagumani Clough. He is the father of Kumar Ponnambalam and daughter Vijayalakshmi.

Ponnambalam was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn.{{cite book|last1=Dissanayake|first1=T. D. S. A.|author-link1=T. D. S. A. Dissanayake|title=War Or Peace in Sri Lanka|date=2005|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=81-7991-199-3|page=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfkLyH95m9MC}} He returned to Ceylon, via France, in 1927 and started practising law as an advocate. An outstanding debater, Ponnambalam became one of the leading criminal lawyers in the country and was made a King's Counsel in 1948. Ponnambalam appeared in several high-profile legal cases during his career. He was one of the defence lawyers in the 1954 Ranjani taxi cab case at which his cross examination of fingerprint experts resulted in the acquittal of all four accused and changes to the finger print law.{{cite news|last1=Sameer|first1=Firoze|title=New Books: The other side of the Sathasivam case|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/060827/plus/books.html|work=The Sunday Times|date=27 August 2006}} As his popularity began to decline in the late 1950s Ponnambalam gradually moved his legal practice to Malaya, only returning to Ceylon to contest elections and take part in high-profile cases.{{cite news|last1=Hoole|first1=Ratnajeevan|author-link1=Ratnajeevan Hoole|title=Who Will Speak For Tamils at UNHRC?|url=http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/02/17/who-will-speak-for-tamils-at-unhrc/|work=The Sunday Leader|date=17 February 2013|access-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007100254/http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/02/17/who-will-speak-for-tamils-at-unhrc/|archive-date=7 October 2016|url-status=dead}}

In January 1976 the Union Government of India dismissed the state government of Tamil Nadu, accusing Chief Minister Karunanidhi of corruption, and imposed President's rule. Ponnambalam represented Karunanidhi at Supreme Court justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria's commission of inquiry.{{cite news|last1=Jeyaraj|first1=D. B. S.|author-link1=|title=Anandasangaree notches seventy today|url=http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20030615/politics.htm|work=The Sunday Leader|date=15 June 2003}} Karunanidhi was cleared of the corruption charges. On 21 May 1976 several leading Tamil politicians (A. Amirthalingam, V. N. Navaratnam, K. P. Ratnam, M. Sivasithamparam and K. Thurairatnam) were delivering leaflets when they were all arrested on government orders.{{cite news|last1=Jeyaraj|first1=D. B. S.|author-link1=|title=Life and times of Sivasithamparam|url=http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20020609/issues.htm|work=The Sunday Leader|date=9 June 2002}}{{cite news|last1=Rajasingham|first1=K. T.|title=Amirthalingham Era – A book review|url=http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2005/08/26/amirthalingham-era-%E2%80%93-book-review|work=Asian Tribune|date=26 August 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327120243/http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2005/08/26/amirthalingham-era-%E2%80%93-book-review|archive-date=27 March 2016|df=dmy-all}} Sivasithamparam was released but the others were taken to Colombo and tried for sedition. All the defendants were acquitted on 10 February 1977 after a famous trial at bar case in which around 70 leading Tamil lawyers, including Ponnambalam and S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, acted for the defence.{{cite news|last1=Sumanthiran|first1=M. A.|author-link1=M. A. Sumanthiran|title=13A: To be or not ...|url=http://www.ceylontoday.lk/78-15546-news-detail-13a-to-be-or-not-.html|work=Ceylon Today|date=28 October 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329181215/http://www.ceylontoday.lk/78-15546-news-detail-13a-to-be-or-not-.html|archive-date=29 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DA26Df04.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020213090010/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DA26Df04.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2002-02-13|chapter=Chapter 24: Tamil militancy – a manifestation}}

Ponnambalam became the political leader of the Ceylon Tamils following the deaths of P. Arunachalam (1924) and his brother P. Ramanathan (1930).{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI22Df02.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020207002606/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI22Df02.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2002-02-07|chapter=Chapter 7: State Councils – elections and boycotts}} He contested the 1931 state council election as a candidate in Mannar-Mullaitivu but failed to get elected to the State Council. He had been unable to contest in his home constituency of Point Pedro due to the boycott organised by the Jaffna Youth Congress. The boycott ended in 1934 and Ponnambalam contested the ensuing by-elections in Point Pedro. He won the election and entered the State Council. He was re-elected at the 1936 Ceylonese State Council election.{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI29Df03.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011224000734/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI29Df03.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2001-12-24|chapter=Chapter 8: Pan Sinhalese board of ministers – A Sinhalese ploy}}

The Board of Ministers established after the 1936 state council election consisted entirely of Sinhalese members, excluding minorities who together made up 35% of Ceylon's population. This was one of the drivers which led Ponnambalam to make his infamous 50:50 demand in a marathon speech to the State Council on 15 March 1939.{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=A. Jeyaratnam|title=Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries|year=2000|publisher=C. Hurst & Co.|isbn=1-85065-519-7|page=69|author-link=A. Jeyaratnam Wilson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AQcVvbHzdcC}} He repeated the demand when he gave evidence to the Soulbury Commission in February 1945. Ponnambalam wanted 50% of seats in Parliament for the Sinhalese, and 50% for all other ethnic groups.{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Mahendra Prasad|last2=Kukreja|first2=Veena|title=Federalism in South Asia|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-73595-7|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s3g9BAAAQBAJ}}{{cite book|last1=Tambiah|first1=Stanley Jeyaraja|author-link1=Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah|title=Sri Lanka—Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy|date=1986|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-78952-7|page=188|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTjbyc-A-SoC}}

In August 1944 Ponnambalam formed the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), the first political party to represent the Ceylon Tamils, from various Tamil groups.{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ13Df01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011107180747/http://atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ13Df01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2001-11-07|chapter=Chapter 10: Lord Soulbury and his soulless report}} He was elected president of the party. Ponnambalam stood as the ACTC candidate for Jaffna at the 1947 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered Parliament.{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/general-election-1947.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The ACTC swept the poll in the Tamil dominated Northern Province, winning seven of the nine seats in the province. The United National Party (UNP) became the largest party Parliament but it did not have a majority. Ponnambalam presided over a meeting at the house of Herbert Sri Nissanka (the Yamuna Conference) at which an unsuccessful attempt was made to form a government without the UNP. The UNP subsequently formed a government with the support of independent and appointed MPs.

Following independence in February 1948, Ceylon's Sinhalese dominated government set about disenfranchising the 780,000 (12% of the population) Indian Tamils living in Ceylon by introducing the Ceylon Citizenship Bill.{{cite web|title=Statelessness in Sri Lanka|url=http://www.unhcr.lk/protection/statelessness/|publisher=UNHCR in Sri Lanka|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023063136/http://www.unhcr.lk/protection/statelessness|archive-date=23 October 2009}}{{cite web|last1=Khan|first1=Gerrard|title=Citizenship and statelessness in South Asia|url=http://www.unhcr.org/3bf0ff124.pdf|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|page=6|date=October 2001}} Ponnambalam and the ACTC opposed the bill. The bill prompted Ponnambalam to describe Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake as a "racist". The bill was passed by Parliament at its second reading on 20 August 1948, a day Ponnambalam described as a black one for Ceylon.{{cite book|last1=Peebles|first1=Patrick|title=Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-5584-5|page=xxxi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50igCgAAQBAJ}} Shortly afterwards Ponnambalam decided to join the UNP led government. He was made Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries on 3 September 1948.{{cite book|last=Rajasingham|first=K. T.|title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CK10Df03.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020103152932/http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CK10Df03.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2002-01-03|chapter=Chapter 14: Post-colonial realignment of political forces}}{{cite news|last1=Gunasekara|first1=S. L.|title=S. L. Gunasekara takes on A. Vinayagamoorthy M.P.|url=http://www.island.lk/2001/04/22/featur04.html|work=The Island|date=22 April 2001}} Kankesanthurai Cement Factory, Paranthan Caustic Soda Chemical Factory and Valaichchenai Paper Mill were opened during Ponnambalam's ministerial tenure.

Ponnambalam's decision to join the UNP led government in 1948 caused a split in the ACTC. Eventually, in December 1949, the ACTC dissidents, led by Chelvanayakam, C. Vanniasingam and E. M. V. Naganathan, formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK, Federal Party). As Ceylon's two main parties, the UNP and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), introduced policies, such as the Sinhala Only Act, which further discriminated against the country's minorities, ITAK's Tamil nationalism became more popular than the ACTC's conservatism. At the 1956 parliamentary election the ITAK overtook the ACTC as the most popular party amongst Ceylon Tamils.{{cite book|last1=Reddy|first1=L. R.|title=Sri Lanka Past and Present|date=2003|publisher=A. P. H. Publishing Corporation|isbn=81-7648-449-0|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JsRmJrqo5qQC}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Ross|editor1-first=Russell R.|editor2-last=Savada|editor2-first=Andrea Matles|title=Sri Lanka: A Country Study|date=1988|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/25.htm|chapter=Chapter 25: Tamil Politics}}

Ponnambalam was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election.{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/general-election-1952.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} His cabinet portfolio was changed to Minister of Industries and Fisheries in June 1952.{{cite book|title=Ceylon Year Book 1951|publisher=Department of Census and Statistics, Ceylon|pages=27–28|url=http://noolaham.net/project/119/11882/11882.pdf}} In October 1953 newly appointed Prime Minister John Kotelawala forced Ponnambalam to resign from the government because Ponnambalam was a supporter of former Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake.

Ponnambalam was re-elected at the 1956 parliamentary election but lost his seat at the March 1960 parliamentary election.{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/general-election-1956.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/general-election-1960-03-19.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 19 March 1960|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He tried unsuccessfully to re-gain his seat at the July 1960 parliamentary election.{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/parliamentary-general-election-1960-07-20.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 20 July 1960|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He was elected at the 1965 parliamentary election.{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/parliamentary-election-1965.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 1965|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} After the election the ACTC joined the UNP led national government and Ponnambalam was offered a ministerial position which he declined. Between 1967 and 1969 Ponnambalam led Ceylon's delegation to UN General Assembly.{{cite news|last1=Vinayagamoorthy|first1=A.|author-link1=A. Vinayagamoorthy|title=Appreciation: G. G. Ponnambalam QC|url=http://www.island.lk/2003/02/09/opinio02.html|work=The Island|date=9 February 2003}} Ponnambalam lost his seat again at the 1970 parliamentary election.{{cite web|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/web/images/pdf/general-election-results/general-election-1970.pdf|title=Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970|publisher=Election Commission of Sri Lanka}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Ponnambalam died on 9 February 1977.{{Efn|Another source gives Ponnambalam's date of death as 9 December 1977.}} A commemorative 75 cents stamp was issued on 22 May 1986.

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{{Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponnambalam, G. G.}}

Category:1901 births

Category:1977 deaths

Category:20th-century Sri Lankan lawyers

Category:All Ceylon Tamil Congress politicians

Category:Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

Category:Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo

Category:Alumni of St. Patrick's College, Jaffna

Category:Ceylonese advocates

Category:Ceylonese Queen's Counsel

Category:Fisheries ministers of Sri Lanka

Category:Industries ministers of Sri Lanka

Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn

Category:Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon

Category:Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ceylon

Category:Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon

Category:Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon

Category:Members of the 1st State Council of Ceylon

Category:Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon

Category:Politicians from Northern Province, Sri Lanka

Category:People from British Ceylon

GG

Category:20th-century King's Counsel

Category:Sri Lankan Hindus

Category:Sri Lankan Tamil people

Category:Tamil politicians