Suren Raghavan

{{Short description|Sri Lankan academic and politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = Suren Raghavan

|native_name = {{lang|ta|சுரேன் ராகவன்}}
{{lang|si|සුරේන් රාගවන්}}

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|image =

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| constituency_MP = National List

| parliament = Sri Lankan

| term_start = 20 August 2020

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|order1 = 6th

|office1 = Governor of the Northern Province

|term_start1 = 7 January 2019

|term_end1 = 20 November 2019

|predecessor1 = Reginald Cooray

|successor1 = P. S. M. Charles

|president1 = Maithripala Sirisena

|birth_date =

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|nationality =

|party = Sri Lanka Freedom Party

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|alma_mater = University of Kent

|occupation =

|profession = Academic

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|blank1 = Ethnicity

|data1 = Sri Lankan Tamil

}}

Suren Raghavan ({{langx|ta|சுரேன் ராகவன்|translit=Curēṉ Rākavaṉ}}; {{langx|si|සුරේන් රාගවන්|translit=Surēn Rāgavan}}) is a Sri Lankan academic and former Governor of the Northern Province. He is of biethnic heritage, classed as Sri Lankan Tamil due to paternal descent.Suren Rāghavan, Buddhist Monks and the Politics of Lanka's Civil War, Ethnoreligious Nationalism of the Sinhala Saṅgha and Peacemaking in Sri Lanka, 1995-2010, 2016

Raghavan joined the University of Kent's School of Political and International Relations in 2005 on a scholarship from the James Madison Trust and received a Master of Arts degree after producing a dissertation on federalism in Sri Lanka.{{cite web |title=Suren Rāghavan |url=https://ocbs.org/suren-raghavan/ |publisher=Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies |access-date=14 January 2019 |location=Oxford, U.K.}}{{cite news |title= First Tamil Governor, Dr. Suren Ragavan, appointed for North |url=http://tamildiplomat.com/first-tamil-governor-dr-suren-ragavan-appointed-north/ |access-date=14 January 2019 |work=Tamil Diplomat |date=8 January 2019}} He then carried out research at the University of Ottawa before returning to the University of Kent in 2008 on another James Madison Trust scholarship to study for his doctorate degree.{{cite web |title=Centre for Federal Studies: Members |url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/politics/cfs/members/index.html?tab=former-members |publisher=University of Kent |access-date=14 January 2019 |location=Canterbury, U.K.}} He was also an Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme scholar from 2008 to 2011 and a recipient of the Ontario Student Assistance Program award. In 2012 he received a doctorate politics and government from the University of Kent after producing a thesis titled Multimational Federaiism and Sinhala Buddhism. Is there a (In)compatibility? The Case of Ethnonationalism in Sri Lanka.{{cite web |title=Centre for Federal Studies: Research degrees |url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/politics/cfs/teaching/?tab=research-degrees |publisher=University of Kent |access-date=14 January 2019 |location=Canterbury, U.K.}}

Raghavan was a visiting professor at Saint Paul University, research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a visiting research scholar at the University of Colombo's Department of History.{{cite journal |title=Contributors |journal=Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies |date=October 2011 |volume=1 |page=5 |url=http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/download/1/1 |publisher=Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies |location=Oxford, U.K. |issn=2047-1076}}{{cite web |title=Executive Board: Suren Rāghavan |url=http://www.artscouncil.lk/suren-raghavan/ |publisher=Arts Council of Sri Lanka |access-date=14 January 2019 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}} He was chairperson and national director of Colombo School for Critical Studies. He has been a jury member for several film festivals including the OCIC, South Indian Film Federation and Asian Cinema Centre. He organised the Indian Film Festival in Colombo.

Raghavan was appointed adviser to President Maithripala Sirisena and director of the Presidential Media Unit in November 2018.{{cite news |title=Suren Ragawan appointed Presidential Media Director! |url=https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/news-in-brief/11668-suren-ragawan-appointed-presidential-media-director |access-date=14 January 2019 |work=Sri Lanka Mirror |date=25 November 2018 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}} In January 2019 he was appointed Governor of the Northern Province by Sirisena.{{cite news |title=Three more governors appointed |url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Three-more-governors-appointed-160768.html |access-date=14 January 2019 |work=The Daily Mirror |date=7 January 2019 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}{{cite news |title=Keerthi Tennakoon appointed Governor Uva |url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=197353 |access-date=14 January 2019 |work=The Island |date=9 January 2019 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}} Following the presidential election in November 2019, newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered Raghavan and all other provincial governors to resign.{{cite news |title=Governors resign |url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=214078 |access-date=31 December 2019 |work=The Island |date=21 November 2019 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}{{cite news |title=Governors asked to resign |url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Governors-asked-to-resign/108-178175 |access-date=31 December 2019 |work=The Daily Mirror |date=20 November 2019 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}

Following the 2020 parliamentary election he was appointed to the Parliament of Sri Lanka as a National List MP representing the Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance.{{cite magazine |title=Part I : Section (I) — General - Government Notifications - Parliamentary Elections - 2020 - Declaration under Article 99A of the Constitution |magazine=The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary |date=10 August 2020 |issue=2188/2 |page=2A |url=http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/egz/2020/8/2188-02_E.pdf |access-date=11 August 2020 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}{{cite news |title=SLPP National List goes to EC |url=http://www.ft.lk/front-page/SLPP-National-List-goes-to-EC/44-704302 |access-date=9 August 2020 |work=Daily FT |date=8 August 2020 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}{{cite news |title=SLPP releases National list |url=http://archives1.sundayobserver.lk/2020/08/07/news/slpp-releases-national-list |access-date=9 August 2020 |work=Sunday Observer |date=7 August 2020 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}