Appreciation: 100th birth anniversary of the late Desigar ramanujam
By S. Thambyrajah
[Colombo 3]
The 100th birth anniversary of the late D. Ramanujam fell on July 17, 2007. He was a member of the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC) during the period 1943-52. It was during my period of service at the Kandy Municipal Council that I came to know him.
[Desigar Ramanujam]
Ramanujam came to Ceylon to join Natesa Aiyar’s Desa Bakthan. He has the distinction of being the first person of recent Indian origin to be elected to the high office of deputy mayor, Kandy in 1946. Trade unionist, journalist, translator and amateur astrologer, he was for sometime an English teacher at Dharmaraja College Kandy.
He was one of the pioneers who along with his wife, devoted a lifetime for the welfare and upliftment of the Indian community in Ceylon. At that time there was a large section of Indians, who gave their labour cheap to the plantation sector and road and rail construction activities. Their education was limited.
Prior to 1938, there were a number of organisations of the Indian community. One such was the Bose Sangam led by Ramanujam whose membership consisted of those in Mahaiyawa and Asgiriya, Kandy. A similar organisation was led by K. Rajalingam of Nawalapitiya, and another by Chelliah of Badulla.
In 1938 Pandit Jawarhalal Nehru visited Ceylon and strongly urged that all the organisations representative of the Indian community should seriously consider merging themselves to form one powerful body. His advise was well taken and soon thereafter the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC) was born.
In the elections to the first parliament (1947 to 1952) seven persons from the CIC and one independent were elected to represent the interests of the Indian Tamils in the plantation sector. Ramanujam was one of them. The CIC in later years adopted the name Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC). Ramanujam was close to the late Srimavo Bandaranaike, mainly due to his knowledge of astrology. It was through his efforts that Mrs. Bandaranaike offered two portfolios to the CWC.
Mrs. Ramanujam practiced Western medicine in her clinic in Peradeniya Road, Kandy. Large numbers of Muslim ladies were her patients. However she made a great sacrifice giving up her lucrative practice in order to lead the Mathar Sangam (Women’s wing) of the CWC. This resulted in financial constraints, so much so that their two sons who were studying at the prestigious Trinity College Kandy (TCK) were for a period of time temporarily removed to St Paul’s school and later re-admitted to Trinity College.
In 1960 Ramanujam went as the representative of the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTL) to Ethiopia, continued at Mauritius and Singapore. He passed away on June 4, 1968 at the age of 61. Mrs. Ramanujam died about 15 years ago. They left behind four children, two males and two females. One of them is Dr. Prathap Ramanujam, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc, and Ph.D. presently functioning as secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply, Sri Lanka. Incidently his thesis for the doctorate is on the tea industry — supply, demand and market structure.
It will be truly fitting to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of a person who did much for Kandy. The Kandy Municipal Council is ideally suited to initiate action to have a commemoration stamp in recognition of the yeoman service rendered by Desigar Ramanujam.
