Tamil National Alliance

Tamil National Alliance
தமிழ் தேசிய கூட்டமைப்பு
AbbreviationTNA
PresidentVacant
Secretary-GeneralMavai Senathirajah
Deputy PresidentA. Vinayagamoorthy
Deputy Secretary
Founded20 October 2001 (2001-10-20)
Headquarters6, 1st Lane,
Point Pedro Road,
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left
Colours  Yellow
  Red
Parliament
10 / 225
Provincial Councils
41 / 455
Local Government
417 / 8,327

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA; Tamil: தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil minority. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate Tamil nationalist parties and former militant groups. The alliance originally supported self-determination in an autonomous state (Tamil Eelam) for the island's Tamils. It supported negotiations with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to resolve the civil war in Sri Lanka. The TNA was considered a political proxy of the LTTE which selected some of its candidates even though its leadership maintains it never supported the LTTE and merely negotiated with the LTTE just as the Government did.[1][2][3][4][5]

Soon after its formation in 2001, the alliance began to make a more pro-LTTE stance, supporting their "freedom struggle" and recognizing them as the sole representative of the Tamils. In an interview, Selvam Adaikalanathan explained that it would be betraying the Tamil people to oppose the LTTE, because victory could only be achieved if all Tamil groups set aside their differences and present as a united front. Since the end of the civil war and the defeat of the Tamil Tigers the TNA has dropped the demand for an independent state, saying that it is ready to accept regional self-rule. The TNA and its supporters have been subject to numerous attacks during its existence and three of its sitting Members of Parliament have been assassinated, allegedly by government backed rival groups.[6][7]

The TNA currently consists of four parties: Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization.[8]

The TNA currently has 10 members in the national parliament. It controls the provincial government in the Northern Province and is part of the provincial government in the Eastern Province. It also controls 33 local authorities in the north and east. The leader of the alliance, R. Sampanthan, served as the leader of the opposition from September 2015 to December 2018.[9][10]

  1. ^ "Sri Lankan Tamils drop demand for separate independent homeland". The Guardian. 14 March 2010. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023.
  2. ^ BBC Tamil party wins elections in Sri Lanka's ex-war zone
  3. ^ Robert C Oberst; Yogendra K Malik; Charles Kennedy; Ashok Kapur; Mahendra Lawoti, Syedur Rahman & Ahrar Ahmad (9 July 2013). Government and Politics in South Asia. Avalon Publishing. pp. 255–. ISBN 978-0-8133-4880-3. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  4. ^ Randolph Kluver (2007). The Internet and National Elections: A Comparative Study of Web Campaigning. Taylor & Francis. pp. 124–. ISBN 978-0-415-44618-1. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  5. ^ "சிங்கள ஊடகத்திற்கு".
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference TN160308 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Ferdinando, Shamindra (9 March 2015). "President to solicit British support for reconciliation". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  9. ^ "TNA's Sampanthan becomes opposition leader in Sri Lankan parliament". The Hindu. 3 September 2015. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  10. ^ "MR appointed as Opposition Leader". Daily Mirror. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2019.