He has a 50 year political history. He is well versed in all three languages.He was a left wing politician during his school days and later became a member of the Communist Party. He was one of the forefront politicians in the North East and participated in several struggles and was incarcerated many times.
While he was in the Communist Party he engaged in its trade union works and severed in several parts of the country. He built the various trade unions in the Ceylon Transport Board and fought for the rights of the employees.
As the representatives of the Ceylon Trade Union Federation he appeared in the Labor Tribunals on behalf of the workers and made them win the cases.
He worked with eminent political leaders such as Comrade Dr. S.A. Wickramasinghe, Peter Kenoman and K.P. Silva. After the rift in the Communist Party he joined with comrade Shanmugathasan and worked with Comrade Premlal Kumarasiri and S.D. Bandaranayake.
At the same time he worked in the Northern Province in conjunction with a well respected reputed teacher M. Karthigesan and comrade V. Kandasamy in the North. At this time he also led the people�s struggle against caste discrimination.
The LTTE took him into custody in 1986 while he was working with the EPRLF and was tortured and incarcerated. He escaped from the LTTE clutched and lived in hiding. He unflinchingly mustered people against the LTTE's anti-democratic activities that oppressed the public.
He was elected to the North East Provincial Council which was created by the Indo-Sri Lanka pact.
He contested in the general election as an EPDP candidate and became parliamentarian twice and worked for the rights of the Tamil people. He worked as the chairman of the Palmyra Development Board and during this time on 09.08.2011 his vehicle was bombed by the LTTE and he was injured critically.
Comrade Sivathasan came to Sri Lanka with comrade Douglas Devananda from India in the early 90�s and worked with comrade Devananda to form the EPDP.
Comrade Devananda's father Mr. Kathirvel was one of the members of the Communist Party from its inception and comrade Sivathasan worked with Mr. Kathiravel not only as a comrade politically but they also became blood relatives as he married the sister of comrade Kathirvel.
Although he was aging and ailing for some time he never failed to participate in the EPDP meetings and to chat with other comrades.
As one of the leaders of the EPDP he has worked very hard to find a solution to the Tamil people's political issue and to fulfill the day today needs of the people.
His departure is a great loss for the Tamil community
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