Somasundaram Senathirajah (Tamil:சோமசுந்தரம் சேனாதிராஜா;Sinhala:මාවෙයි සේනාධිරාජා; 27 October 1942 – 29 January 2025), commonly known asMavai Senathirajah, was a Sri Lankan politician who was aMember of Parliament. He was the leader of theIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) from 2014 to 2024, the main constituent party of theTamil National Alliance (TNA). He spent much of his political career advocating forTamil nationalism.
Senathirajah was born inMaviddapuram,Jaffna on 27 October 1942.[1][2][3] He was educated at Veemangamam School and Nadeswara College.[2] After school he joined theUniversity of Ceylon, Peradeniya as an external student and graduated with a bachelor's degree.[2]
Senathirajah got involved in theSri Lankan Tamil nationalism movement at a young age and took part in the 1961satyagraha.[2] He joined the youth wing ofIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the Tamil Youth League, in 1962.[2] He was secretary of the Eela Thamil Elanger Eyakam (Eelam Tamil Youth Movement) from 1966 to 1969.[2] He was arrested on several occasions between 1969 and 1983 and spent seven years imprisoned at eight different prisons.[2] He became secretary of the Tamil Youth Front, the youth wing theTamil United Liberation Front (TULF), in 1972.[2]
In 2013, Senathirajah caused a stir when he requested TNA party members to nominate him as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Northern Provincial Council Elections.[17][18] India strongly opposed the planned attempt to nominate Mavai Senathirajah as the chief ministerial candidate by TNA party for the 2013 Northern Provincial Council Elections considering his past history of having formed deep rooted friendship with members of the LTTE.[19] Senathirajah's decision to step into the candidacy baffled Sampanthan as he initially planned to nominateC. V. Vigneswaran for the chief minister position for the 2013 Northern Provincial Council Elections.[20][21]
Senathirajah was general-secretary of ITAK before being elected leader of ITAK on 6 September 2014.[17][22] Senathirajah marched on his way to dethrone the longstanding leader R. Sampanthan, as the latter held onto the party leadership position of ITAK from 2004 to 2014 for nearly a decade. During those years when Sampanthan held onto the leadership position of ITAK, Senathirajah continued to serve in as the general secretary of the party.[17] Soon after he was elected as the party leader of ITAK, he assured and guaranteed that he would be an hardliner by formulating a 15-point plan of action to take the party forward for a foreseeable future.[17]
Senathirajah was hospitalized and was admitted to the Emergency Treatment Unit (ETU) of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital after an accident at his residence.[26][27] On 29 January 2025, he died after a brief illness caused by the accident.[28] He died at the age of 82.[29]
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