The Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees

¶ 01 The Hon. Kathiravelu Shanmugam Kugathasan

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I am honoured to speak in tribute to the late Hon. R. Sampanthan.

¶ 03 Born on 5 February 1933 to Rajavarothiam and Yogambikai, he excelled from his youth. He studied at St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s in Trincomalee, St. Patrick’s in Jaffna, St. Anne’s in Kurunegala, St. Sebastian’s in Moratuwa, and the Sri Lanka Law College. After qualifying in law in 1958, he practised in the Trincomalee Courts and became its leading attorney.

¶ 04 He married Leelavathi, the third daughter of P.K. Rudra and Manonmani. They have three children: Krushangini, Sanjeevan, and Senthooran. He joined ITAK in 1956 and participated in non‑violent protests for Tamil rights, including the 1961 Satyagraha, facing imprisonment.

¶ 05 At Thanthai Chelva’s request, he contested Trincomalee in 1977, was elected to Parliament, left legal practice to devote himself full‑time to politics, and at that time was handling nearly 700 cases. He served in Parliament from 1977 to 1983 and again from 2001 until his demise in 2024, in all for 29 years.

¶ 06 For over half a century, Trincomalee and R. Sampanthan were synonymous. He led the TNA — formed by Tamil parties including TULF, ACTC, EPRLF, and TELO — as its Parliamentary Group Leader and as overall Leader. From 3 September 2015 to 18 December 2018, he served as Leader of the Opposition. He was passionate about improving education in Trincomalee and helped renovate schools and establish many temples in accordance with the adage “Do not live in a village without a temple,” demonstrating his devotion to Saivism.

¶ 07 He maintained cordial ties with leaders of all Sri Lankan parties while frankly pointing out their errors. He engaged on the ethnic question with Presidents J.R. Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunga, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ranil Wickremesinghe; and with Indian Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi; as well as with international diplomats. He worked with mediators such as Norway’s Erik Solheim (2004–2008) toward resolving the ethnic conflict.

¶ 08 He played a role in the 1987 Indo–Lanka Accord, the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and contributed to proposals from the Mangala Moonesinghe Select Committee (1991), the 2000 draft constitution under President Kumaratunga, and the Prof. Tissa Vitharana All‑Party Representatives Committee under President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He had high hopes for a solution during 2015–2019, though it did not materialize.

¶ 09 Having toiled for over half a century with duty, dignity, discipline, truth, and honesty for a solution to the ethnic problem, Hon. R. Sampanthan passed away on 30 June 2024. I extend condolences to his wife Leelavathi, daughter Krushangini, sons Sanjeevan and Senthooran, his relatives, the people of Trincomalee, ITAK, and on behalf of this Parliament. May his soul rest in peace.