Chelliah Rajadurai Reminisces on MGR and B. Saroja Devi Visit to Ceylon in 1965

by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 19, 2025

Front Note

Chellaiah Rajadurai memoirs (2008)

Chelliah Rajadurai (born July 27, 1927) has been a household name since 1956, as a Federal Party MP for Batticaloa, from 1956 to 1979, and subsequently as the Minister of Regional Affairs during President J.R. Jayewardene’s tenure from 1979 till 1988. If I’m not mistaken, Mr Rajadurai is currently the longest lived ex-Sri Lankan parliamentarian. He reaches 98 years on July 27^th.

Among the old guard of Eelam Tamil parliamentarians, next to M. Sivasithamparam (ex-MP for Udupiddy and later Nallur constituencies) and M.K. Eelaventhan, I had some affinity to Rajadurai and T. Sivasithamparam (ex-MP for Vavuniya constituency), via their sons. Rajadurai’s son Raveenthiran was my classmate for one year, at the Colombo Hindu College. This was in 1966.

I met Minister Rajadurai once on March 22, 1981 briefly at a function organized by Colombo Tamil Sangam, where I had to present my lecture on the research theme that I had read at the Madurai International Tamil Research Conference held in January that year. He had been invited as a Special Guest for that function. Please check the notice of that meeting, presented nearby. We were seated in the dais. Before I was about to deliver my lecture, Rajadurai reached me and whispered in my ears, that regrettably he couldn’t listen to my talk as he had to attend another important meeting. I was instantly charmed by his simple courtesy, in asking permission to leave. There was a status imbalance – He, a busy Minister, and I was merely a young researcher. A charmer could be the most appropriate adjective, I could tag to Mr Rajadurai.

C. Rajadurai with Sachi’s mother, Mar 10 1984

Then, it happened in 1984. I don’t have a photo taken with Mr. Rajadurai, but my late mother had one! That specific occasion was when my mother received a state Sahitya award on behalf of me, for the Karnatik music theory book I had authored in 1977, from Mr. Rajadurai. Since then, for years, I have been wanting to profile Rajadurai’s lengthy political career. Towards this objective, via my school mate Siva from Batticaloa, for the past 25 years, I had attempted to contact Rajadurai’s close associates. This turned out to be a wild goose chase; then, like a bolt from the blue, unexpectedly I received a phone call from Mr. Rajadurai himself, while he was staying in India. This was in 2008! He also sent me a New Year greeting card, without any specific indications! My wish is, if only I can meet my classmate Raveenthiran, after 59 years. But, I’m clueless about his whereabouts.

Still, I persisted in my quest for access to ‘elusive Rajadurai Papers’. Early this year, through Siva’s contact, I received a complimentary copy of Rajadurai’s memoir ‘Suvadukal’ [Footsteps, 200 pages], published in 2008. This book, consisting 60 short chapters, will be reviewed at a later date. For his birthday tribute, I provide English translation of chapter 21, in which he had written about the visit of MGR and Saroja Devi to Ceylon in 1965.

Rajadurai’s 2008 Memoir – Chapter 21 – Rationality Movement

MGR and Saroja Devi arriving at Jaffna’s Palali  airport

[Note by Sachi: The title of this chapter is inappropriate! I provide the translation here, because it offers some previously unknown details on the 1965 visit of MGR and his co-star B. Saroja Devi to Ceylon, in my continuing MGR series [see the link to Part 32, https://sangam.org/mgr-remembered-part-32/, Dec 24, 2015] It describes the conditional visa extension, given by J.R. Jayewardene (1906-1996), the then Minister of State. Saroja Devi died recently in July 14, 2025, at the age of 87.]

“I invited Makkal Thilagam and the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Mr. M.G. Ramachandran to Ceylon. On behalf of a Tamil daily. I had invited and was pleasingly accepted. He visited Ceylon. Mr. R.M. Veerappan and Saroja Devi also accompanied him. In different regions, he received tremendous welcome. I also invited him to Batticaloa and organized a great reception.

Wherever he visited, thousands gathered and the police folks struggled with crowd control. One day, MGR called me on phone from Colombo. His request was, Saroja Devi had a wish to visit Kathirgamam and is it possible to extend the visa for a few more days. When I went to Colombo and met with Mr. J.R. Jayewardene, then the Minister of State, about this visa extension, he told that police had become tired. More than thousands of policemen had been overtaxed on this particular duty. I insisted on my request, to extend the visa for few more days. Somehow, he agreed, but placed a condition. For whatever reason, there should not be public meeting and reception. I accepted this condition, and was able to get the visa extension.

Colombo Tamil Sangam meeting notice, March 22, 1981

Subsequently, there was a reception at Kandanai by Mr. K. Gunaratnam in his studio. While speaking at that reception, I said: ‘Mr. Gunaratnam is a cinema producer. But he produces only Sinhala movies. He don’t produce Tamil movies. Please request him, to make Tamil movies also.’ In his thanking speech, Mr. Gunaratnam told:: ‘I’ll produce Tamil movies. But, one request. Mr. Rajadurai should act in it’

That night, at the Galle Face Hotel [dinner], MGR requested ‘Will you prepare a story in which events happen in India and Ceylon? I’ll act, and you also should act.’ I accepted MGR’s request. Subsequently, I wrote a story titled ‘Anbukku Naan Adimai’ [I’m a slave for Love] and handed it to him at the Satya Studio. Then, MGR handed the script to producer Kovai Chezhian and solicited to proceed with it.

When MGR was about to leave for India, I met him at the Galle Face Hotel. R. Pathamanathan was also with me then. He said, ‘Why you are keeping our MP, with you?’ Still my ears ring with his besotted quip ‘You should send him with me, and I’ll make him an MP from Tamil Nadu.’ I went to Colombo airport to send off him.

One day, while was taking a bath, my son knocked at the bathroom door, and shouted ‘Father, they had shot MGR’. He was avid fan of MGR. That night itself, I received a visa and went to Chennai. I approached the hospital, where he was being treated. I was blocked there. At that time, Mrs. Janaki amma and Thirupathi Samy came, and at their insistence, I was allowed in. When I watched him there, I was so anguished. Our friendship bloomed further. He would invite me to his residence at Ramawaram and Sathya Studio. I also accepted his invitation to the Madurai Tamil Conference [in 1981].

When he died, I paid my respects in Chennai. I was the only one to go from Ilankai then. He was one, whom I can never forget in my life. He participated in the wedding of my daughter Poongothai and invited the newlyweds for reception at his house.”

End Note by Sachi

Rajadurai had omitted the name of the Tamil ‘daily’ here. It was ‘Dinapathi’ (along with sister publications, ‘Chintamani’– ‘Radha’), belonging to the Independent Newspaper Group (aka, Dawasa group), owned by M.D. Gunasena publishers. Dinapathi was then a new Tamil daily, established in 1964, with S.T. Sivanayakam as the founder editor. In its circulation war with two Tamil dailies (Virakesari and Thinakaran, established in 1930s) of Colombo, Dinapathi was placed as a poor third. By sponsoring the visit of MGR and Saroja Devi, under the ruse of participation in a selection of ‘beauty queen contest’ in the plantation sector, Dinapathi’s patrons had aimed to elevate the sales among the less literate Tamil folks. Especially, the Radha weekly catered for the fans of Tamil films, with splashy photos of movie stars and less ‘meat’ in its contents. I may not be wrong in my guess, that MGR himself would have been tempted by this invitation, as it would give him an opportunity to pay a visit to his place of birth in Ceylon.

On the issue of conditional visa extension given by J.R. Jayewardene. At that time (Oct 1965), I was not aware that Saroja Devi had visited Kathirgamam. This was not reported in the print media then. To abide by the then policies and sentiments adopted by the DMK party, it is my guess, that MGR wouldn’t have visited Kathirgamam. But, MGR might have allowed Saroja Devi to visit Kathirgamam, without media coverage.

Also, there is some evidence for J.R. Jayewardene’s reluctance for visa extension. A news report in the Eelanadu (Oct 29, 1965, p. 2) offers a clue. That the Sinhalese mouthpiece Aththa (Truth) daily of Communist Party had carried a front page item on Oct 27, 1965, with an insinuating title ‘Ramachandran dips in politics’. An English translation of what appeared in the Aththa was as follows:

“For what purpose MGR came here? Why he hasn’t returned yet? This bourgeois leader had travelled like a cyclone in plantation regions and North and East provinces. Why the government has not ordered this terrorist class guy to leave the country? He had made public speeches in Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kandy and Matale. No one is not sure when his ‘cultural visit’ will come to an end. His speech made at Batticaloa is troublesome. As of now, no foreigners who had visited this country had spoken like this. Now, it’s revealed whether Ramachandran’s visit was a cultural trip or a political mission. His speeches made at Batticaloa and other locations indicate that under the cloak of a cultural trip, he has made a political mission. Every nationalist citizen should seriously observe his activities. We do not need any advice from South India on how to rule our nation.”

Jayewardene (then No.2 in the hierarchical rank of ruling party) would have preferred to muffle such criticism from the Communists. Between Mar. 1965 and Aug.1968, Federal Party was aligned with the ruling UNP coalition, and the Communist Party was in the Opposition. What became evident on the pointed darts thrown at MGR’s speeches was this fact. Despite the public posturing for equality of status among ethnic groups, Communist Party journalists were hardly immune to vociferous rabble rousing.