Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam (; 31 March 1898 – 26 April 1977) was a Ceylonese lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the founder and leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and a political leader of the Ceylon Tamil community for more than two decades. Chelvanayakam has been described as a father figure to Ceylon's Tamils, to whom he was known as "Thanthai Chelva" (father Chelva).

Born into an expatriate Ceylon Tamil family in Malaya, Chelvanayakam moved to Ceylon while still young. He worked as a teacher before studying law at Ceylon Law College and qualifying as lawyer. A successful career in civil law saw him becoming a King's Counsel and being offered a position on the Supreme Court, which he rejected. As a young lawyer Chelvanayakam was not involved in politics but when the British established the Soulbury Commission to look into constitutional reform in Ceylon he and other Tamil people formed the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) to represent Tamil interests. He was elected to Parliament in 1947 to represent Kankesanthurai, a constituency he would represent until his death, except for a period between 1952 and 1956. Chelvanayakam left the ACTC over the party's decision to join the government and in 1949 founded his own party, ITAK, also known as the Federal Party.

Chelvanayakam and ITAK advocated federalism as a means of sharing power between Ceylon's majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. Chelvanayakam signed two pacts with Ceylonese prime ministers—Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact (1957) and Dudley-Chelvanayakam Pact (1965)—on devolving powers to Tamils and resolving linguistic rights and other ethnic issues but both were abrogated by the prime ministers due to pressure from Sinhalese nationalists. This, together with government policies which were regarded by Ceylon's minorities as discriminatory, resulted in Chelvanayakam and the Tamil political movement shifting away from federalism and towards separatism. ITAK and other Tamil political groups formed the Tamil United Front (TUF) in 1972 with Chelvanayakam as its leader. TUF was renamed TULF and in 1976, at a convention presided over by Chelvanayakam, passed the Vaddukoddai Resolution calling for the "restoration and reconstitution of the free, sovereign, secular, socialist state of Tamil Eelam".

Chelvanayakam suffered from Parkinson's disease and failing hearing. He died in 1977 aged 79 after a fall at his home. Noted for his integrity, Chelvanayakam was committed to using non-violent methods to achieve his political goals, and led several satyagraha campaigns to realise the Tamils' political demands. His methods, however, failed to secure Tamils' rights in the face of opposition from Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists. His belief that the Tamils' political aspirations could be achieved through parliamentary institutions has been criticised as naive. With his death the era of non-violent protest was replaced by violent militancy.

Early life and family Chelvanayakam was born on 31 March 1898 in Ipoh, Malaya. He was the son of Visvanathan Velupillai, a businessman, and Harriet Annamma Kanapathipillai. Velupillai had been a school teacher in Tholpuram in northern Ceylon before migrating to Malaya as a contractor. Chelvanayakam had two brothers (Ernest Velupillai Ponnuthurai and Edward Rajasundaram) and a sister (Atputham Isabel). The family later moved from Ipoh to Taiping.

Malaya had few schools and most of these catered for rich Malays. It was common for expatriate Ceylon Tamils to send their children to schools in Ceylon. Aged four, Chelvanayakam, his mother, sister and two brothers were sent to Ceylon for the children's schooling. Velupillai remained in Malaya to provide for his family. The family lived in Tellippalai, Harriet's home town, close to Harriet's siblings and their families. Harriet's brother S. K. Ponniah, a Church of England minister, became Chelvanayakam's guide and adviser.

Chelvanayakam was educated at Union College, Tellippalai and St. John's College, Jaffna. After school he joined S. Thomas' College, Mutwal and obtained an external degree in science from the University of London in 1918. At St. Thomas Chelvanayakam was a contemporary of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, future Prime Minister of Ceylon. After graduation Chelvanayakam visited his father in Malaya in 1918 shortly before his death.

Chelvanayakam married Emily Grace Barr-Kumarakulasinghe (Rathinam), daughter of R. R. Barr-Kumarakulasinghe, in 1927. The Barr-Kumarakulasinghes were an influential family from Tellippalai who served the Dutch and British administrations in Ceylon. R. R. Barr-Kumarakulasinghe was Maniagar (British appointed administrative chief) for the Valikamam region. The Chelvanayakams had four sons (Manoharan, Vaseekaran, Ravindran and Chandrahasan) and a daughter (Susila).

Chelvanayakam was a Protestant Christian and a member of the Church of South India (CSI). While studying in Colombo he became a member of the Church of England as the CSI had no presence in the capital. Later, when the CSI established a church in Colombo, Chelvanayakam worshipped there. Though a Christian, Chelvanayakam absorbed many of the values of Hinduism, claiming to be a Christian by religion and a Hindu by culture.

Education, law and business After graduating Chelvanayakam started teaching at St. Thomas but resigned when the warden William Arthur Stone refused him leave to visit his dying brother Edward Rajasundaram. He then joined Wesley College, Colombo as chief science master. During this period he studied law at Ceylon Law College and became an advocate of the Supreme Court in 1923. He started practising law in Hulftsdorp, specialising in civil law, and was made a King's Counsel on 31 May 1947. Chelvanayakam was twice offered a position on the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Curtois Howard.

Chelvanayakam was part of a syndicate which purchased a controlling stake in the Pettiagalla Estate plantation in Balangoda. He also owned a printing press which, though not profitable, was used to print ITAK's newspaper Suthanthiran (Freedom).

Political career All Ceylon Tamil Congress With the annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 the British brought the whole island of Ceylon under their control and in 1829 appointed the Colebrooke–Cameron Commission to assess the administration of the island. Among the recommendations of the commission were the end of the separate administration along ethnic/cultural lines for Low Country Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamils and the introduction of communal representation whereby Ceylonese members of the Legislative Council were appointed along ethnic lines. The Donoughmore Commission of 1931 introduced universal suffrage and replaced communal representation with territorial representation, thereby introducing majority (Sinhalese) rule. Following the 1936 state council election an all-Sinhalese Board of Ministers was established, stoking fears amongst the island's minorities about Sinhalese domination. Ceylon's Tamils, led by G. G. Ponnambalam, responded by demanding balanced representation (half of seats in legislature for Sinhalese with the remaining half for the combined minorities). When the British appointed Soulbury Commission to look into constitutional reform in 1944, Ceylon's Tamils formed the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) to represent Tamil interests.

As a young lawyer Chelvanayakam was not involved in politics but when the ACTC was established in 1944 he became one of its principal organisers. Ponnambalam was the ACTC's president and Chelvanayakam was effectively his deputy. Chelvanayakam was part of the delegation, led by Ponnambalam, to the Soulbury Commission which argued unsuccessfully for balanced representation. Chelvanayakam stood as the ACTC candidate for Kankesanthurai in the 1947 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered Parliament.

In the 19th and 20th centuries the British recruited large numbers of South Indians, primarily Indian Tamils, to work in tea, coffee, rubber and coconut plantations in Ceylon. Ceylon's majority Sinhalese viewed Indian Tamils with deep suspicion, fearing that they would dominate the island's central highlands and ally themselves with the indigenous Ceylon Tamils, increasing the latter's political strength. Following independence from Britain in February 1948, Ceylon's Sinhalese dominated government introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Bill which had the effect of denying citizenship and making stateless the country's Indian Tamils, who by now accounted for 11 per cent of the population. The bill provided for citizenship by descent or registration but both required documentary proof, something that was difficult for most Indian Tamils, many of whom were illiterate. The ACTC opposed the bill which was passed by Parliament at its second reading on 20 August 1948. Shortly afterwards Ponnambalam decided to join the United National Party (UNP) led government which caused a split in the ACTC. Eventually the ACTC dissidents, led by Chelvanayakam, E. M. V. Naganathan and C. Vanniasingam formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK, Federal Party) on 18 December 1949.

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi ITAK had four main aims: creation of a federal union in Ceylon with two states — a Tamil state in the Northern and Eastern provinces and a Sinhalese state in the remaining seven provinces; cessation of state-sponsored colonisation in the two Tamil provinces; unity amongst the Tamil speaking peoples of Ceylon—Ceylon Tamils, Indian Tamils and Muslims; and equal status for Sinhala and Tamil languages. Chelvanayakam lost his seat in the 1952 parliamentary election but regained it in the 1956 parliamentary election. As Ceylon's two main parties, the UNP and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), introduced policies which further discriminated against the country's minorities, such as the Sinhala Only Act which made the Sinhala language the sole official language of Ceylon, ITAK's Tamil nationalism became more popular than the ACTC's conservatism. In the 1956 parliamentary election the ITAK overtook the ACTC as the most popular party amongst Ceylon Tamils. On 5 June 1956 a group of Tamil activists and parliamentarians, led by Chelvanayakam, staged a satyagraha (a form of non-violent resistance) against the Sinhala Only Act on Galle Face Green opposite the Parliament. The satyagrahis were attacked by a Sinhalese mob as the police looked on, and ITAK MPs E. M. V. Naganathan and V. N. Navaratnam were thrown in Beira Lake.

Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact