| Honorific-Prefix: | Hon. |
| S. Kanagaratnam | |
| Native Name: | ச. கனகரத்தினம் |
| Native Name Lang: | ta |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MP |
| Constituency Mp: | Vanni District |
| Parliament: | Sri Lankan |
| Term Start1: | 2004 |
| Term End1: | 2010 |
| Birth Date: | 28 December 1946 |
| Birth Place: | Nallur, Ceylon |
| Nationality: | Sri Lankan |
| Party: | United People's Freedom Alliance |
| Occupation: | Driving instructor |
Sathasivam Kanagaratnam (Tamil: சதாசிவம் கனகரத்தினம்; born 28 December 1946) is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former Member of Parliament.
Kanagaratnam was born on 28 December 1946 Nallur, northern Ceylon.[1] [2] He was educated at Senkuntha Hindu College.[2] He had two brothers (Chelvanayakam and Rajaratnam) and two sisters.[2] Lieutinent Chelvanayakam (alias Amman, Chandran, Chellakili) was a member of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who was killed in the Thirunelvely ambush on the Sri Lankan military in July 1983.[2]
Kanagaratnam has two sons (Aathithan and Shanseevan) and a daughter (Niruththana).[2]
After school Kanagaratnam worked in various jobs including as a salesman and a chauffeur.[2] He joined the Ceylon Transport Board in 1978 as a bus driver at the Mattakkuliya depot.[2] He transferred to the Mullaitivu depot in 1980.[2] After retirement in 2000 he worked part-time for the Vanni Private Bus Operators’ Association.[2] He lived in Suthanthirapuram near Udayarkaddu in Mullaitivu District.[2]
Kanagaratnam was selected by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to be one of the Tamil National Alliance's (TNA) candidates in Vanni District at the 2004 parliamentary election.[3] He was elected and entered Parliament.[4]
Kanagaratnam and his family were amongst the 300,000 civilians trapped in the No Fire Zone during the final months of the civil war.[5] He disappeared after the end of the civil war in May 2009.[6] He was picked by the police at the Menik Farm IDP camp and taken to Colombo.[7] [8] He had been detained on the orders of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for allegedly violating emergency regulations and assisting the LTTE.[9] [10] [11] After eight months of detention Kanagaratnam was released in January 2010 in return for agreeing to support Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election.[3] [12] [13] He was provided with a newly built bungalow inside the Northern Province Governor’s residential complex in Vavuniya.[14] [15]
Kanagaratnam left the TNA and joined Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA).[16] He contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the UPFA's candidates in Vanni District but failed to get elected after coming sixth amongst the UPFA candidates.[17]
| Constituency | scope=col | Party | scope=col | Votes | scope=col | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected | ||||||
| Not elected |