Federal Party (Sri Lanka)
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The Federal Party was a political party in Sri Lanka active from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Its political base was among the Ceylon Tamils of the north and east regions. It pushed strongly for Tamil language rights. Its leader for over 20 years was S.J.V. Chelvanayakam.
The Federal Party broke off from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress in 1949, in protest over the ACTC's support for the disenfranchisement of the Hill Country Tamils. The FP took two seats in the 1952 election, against the ACTC's four; but in the 1956 election it became the dominant party in the Tamil districts and remained so for two decades.
The FP's uncompromising stand on Tamil rights earned it the enmity of nationalist Sinhalese. In response to the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, Federal MPs staged a satyagraha protest, but it was violently broken up by a Sinhalese mob. The FP was blamed for the 1958 riots and banned briefly.
In 1972, the FP merged with the ACTC and other small parties to form the Tamil United Front, which later was renamed the Tamil United Liberation Front.
In Tamil, the Federal Party's name was Illankai Thamil Arasi Kachchi.
