V. N. Navaratnam

Vallipuram Nallathamby Navaratnam (; 5 June 1929 – 29 January 1991) was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family Navaratnam was born on 5 June 1929 in Chavakachcheri in northern Ceylon. He was educated at Drieberg College, Chavakachcheri and Jaffna Central College. He was re-elected at the March 1960, July 1960, 1965 and 1970 parliamentary elections.

On 5 June 1956 a group of Tamil activists and parliamentarians, including Navaratnam, staged a satyagraha 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 Navaratnam and E. M. V. Naganathan were thrown in the lake. Following the 1958 riots ITAK and the Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (National Liberation Front) were banned. ITAK's leaders, including Navaratnam, were arrested on 4 June 1958 as they left Parliament and imprisoned .

Navaratnam played a leading role in the 1961 satyagraha campaign organised by ITAK. Early on the morning of 20 February 1961 a group of 55 to 75 persons staged a satyagraha at the Jaffna Kachcheri in Old Park. Among them were ITAK MPs A. Amirthalingam, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, V. Dharmalingam, V. A. Kandiah, E. M. V. Naganathan, Navaratnam and K. Thurairatnam. Following ITAK leader S. J. V. Chelvanayakam's resignation from Parliament in October 1972 Navaratnam became the party's leader in Parliament. On 21 May 1976 Navaratnam was delivering leaflets along with other leading Tamil politicians (A. Amirthalingam, K. P. Ratnam, M. Sivasithamparam and K. Thurairatnam) when they were all arrested on government orders. Sivasithamparam was released but the others were taken to Colombo and tried for sedition.

Navaratnam was the TULF's candidate in Chavakachcheri at the 1977 parliamentary election and was re-elected. Navaratnam and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were killed by Sinhalese mobs. After three months of absence, Navaratnam forfeited his seat in Parliament on 22 October 1983.

Later life Navaratnam left Sri Lanka after the Black July riots. He lived in the United Kingdom for a while before moving to Canada. He practised law in all three countries. He died on 29 January 1991 after a heart attack.