The Gun That Silenced a Conscience: Remembering Rajani Thiranagama, 35 Years On

Dr. Rajani Thiranagama (née Rajasingham) was born on February 23, 1954, in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka, into a progressive Tamil Christian middle-class family. She was the fourth of seven sisters, growing up in an open-minded household in the mixed coastal town. Her father, Mr. A. Rajasingham, served as vice-principal of Jaffna College, Vaddukkoddai, where Rajani studied from grade one through advanced level, with a brief period at Chundikkuli Girls College in Jaffna town. In 1973, she entered the University of Colombo to study medicine, where she became actively involved in student politics through the Student Christian Movement (SCM). The SCM was very active among students in the mid-1970s, and Rajani engaged deeply with the political issues of the day. The murder of student Weerasuriya by police at Peradeniya University sent shockwaves through the student movement, and for the first time, the Colombo Medical Faculty went on strike with Rajani at the forefront of organizing it.

Marriage to Dayapala Thiranagama

During Dr. Rajani Thiranagama time at Colombo University, Rajani met Dayapala Thiranagama, a politically active student leader from Kelaniya University who came from a rural Sinhala Buddhist background. Their relationship was politically charged and revolutionary in a time of rising ethnic polarization. They married on August 28, 1977, in Colombo without ceremony, in the midst of anti-Tamil riots. Dayapala later described their union: “Our marriage brought together two ethnically, socially, politically and culturally diverse individuals into a relationship based on human understanding and deep love which appeared unshakable at the time”. On their wedding night, they stayed with a Sinhalese friend in Rathmalana, where her father loaded his shotgun and kept awake all night to protect them as Tamil families were being attacked in the neighborhood.  The couple had two daughters: Narmada (born 1978) and Sharika (born 1980). Narmada now lives in Britain and works for the public sector union UNISON, while Sharika Thiranagama is a political anthropologist who teaches at Stanford University. In 2005, Sharika portrayed her mother in the documentary film titled No More Tears Sister: Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal.

Medical Career and Early Activism

Rajani Thiranagama began her medical career in 1978 as an intern at Jaffna Hospital, then worked in Haldumulla, a small village near Haputale, before returning to Jaffna in 1980 as a lecturer in anatomy at the newly formed Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna. By then, Jaffna was already a battle zone in the early stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Inspired by her elder sister Nirmala Rajasingam then a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Rajani initially supported the Tamil militant movement by administering care to wounded fighters. When Nirmala was imprisoned in 1982 under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act, Rajani launched a major international campaign for her release. In 1983, she traveled to England on a Commonwealth scholarship for postgraduate studies in anatomy at Liverpool Medical School. While there, she maintained LTTE links by joining its London Committee to educate human rights groups about atrocities in Sri Lanka, and became involved in grassroots organizations fighting for women’s rights and against discrimination of Britain’s black people. She also joined international campaigns of other liberation groups.

Breaking with the LTTE and Return to Jaffna

Rajani’s political transformation was profound. As Dayapala explained, “Rajani was too honest, politically straightforward, truthful, fiercely independent and committed to her beliefs for the LTTE to handle”. These qualities “the personal qualities of a new kind of revolutionary” ultimately made her incompatible with the organization. Within months of Dayapala leaving London, Rajani had left the Tigers. Against the advice of family and friends, she returned to Jaffna with her two daughters in 1986. In April 1987, she wrote to Dayapala from Jaffna: “I am very worried. It is difficult to live here. Most depressing is the dark valley we are walking through particularly, Inhumanity everywhere”. Her disillusionment with the LTTE grew as she witnessed systematic violence, use of child soldiers, suppression of dissent, and targeting of rival Tamil voices. She began to rethink her position on armed struggle, criticizing the LTTE’s narrow nationalism and atrocities committed by all sides including the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and Sri Lankan government forces.

University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) and The Broken Palmyra

At the University of Jaffna, Rajani and her colleagues founded the Jaffna branch of University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR-J). She became one of its most prominent members, collecting evidence of human rights violations by all parties to the conflict. Her most significant work was co-authoring a groundbreaking book documenting the violence in Jaffna in the 1980s . The book was a brave act of intellectual and moral courage, directly criticizing abuses by government forces, Indian peacekeepers, the LTTE, and other militant movements . Her chapter was entitled “No More Tears, Sister“a phrase that would become her enduring legacy. Rajani also established Poorani, a home for women in Jaffna rendered destitute by war conditions. Working with Pat Ready, a Sri Lankan burgher, she created not just a shelter but a space where women were “empowered by mutual support and collective labour to challenge social restrictions on their freedom and autonomy”. The involvement of working-class women gave it added importance. She also documented every local woman whose male family members were killed or missing, highlighting their plight. When the Indian Army attempted to close the university, Rajani stood between soldiers and her students, armed with nothing more than steadfast determination.

Assassination: September 21, 1989

A few weeks after was published, on September 21, 1989, Rajani was shot and killed at Thirunelvely, Jaffna, while cycling back from work at the university. She was 35 years old According to eyewitness accounts, her assassins called her by name. She turned, saw the gunmen, and tried to cover her forehead with her bare hands. Even after she fell, they shot the back of her head to ensure she would not survive. Her daughters, hearing the gunshots, wondered who the victim would be. Though some disputed claims blamed the EPRLF or Indian forces, her daughters identified the killers as LTTE members. The UTHR-J and Rajani’s sister Nirmala accuse the LTTE of murdering her as retaliation for her criticism of its violent tactics. The assassination was meticulously planned, with the LTTE using its intelligence network to monitor fallout and attempt to shift blame. Her funeral was held on September 23, 1989, at St. James’ Church graveyard, Nallur. Her last letter to the Vice Chancellor, written upon her return from Britain, contained the prophetic words: “There is no life for me apart from my people”.

Prophetic Final Words

Months before her death, Rajani wrote words that have become her most remembered quote:

“One day some gun will silence me and it will not be held by an outsider but by the son born in the womb of this very society, from a woman with whom my history is shared”

She also wrote powerfully about the gendered nature of war:

“Men in battle garb, whether they come with swords or guns, on a horse or in armored cars, the price of conquest seems heightened by the violation of women”

These words encapsulate her feminist analysis of conflict that the violence she opposed would ultimately come from within her own community, and that women bore a disproportionate burden in times of war.

Legacy, Memorials and Cultural Impact of Dr. Rajani Thiranagama

Rajani’s legacy has been preserved and celebrated through multiple forms:

• Documentary Film: In 2005, the National Film Board of Canada released No more_tears_sister, directed by Helene Klodawsky with cinematography by François Dagenais. The film features Sharika Thiranagama portraying her mother, alongside interviews with family members including sister Nirmala Rajasingam a former Tamil militant who broke her long silence about Rajani’s life and death. Narration by Michael Ondaatje adds an elegant touch to the documentary.
• Literary Recognition: Rajani is acknowledged as the inspiration for the character Anjali Acca in V. V. Ganeshananthan’s novel, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2024. The Malayalam novel by T. D. Ramakrishnan is also dedicated to her.
• University Memorial: Her portrait was finally added to the University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association Senior Common Room in 2022 more than three decades after her death.
• Continued Activism: Her UTHR-J colleagues Rajan Hoole and K. Sritharan continued reporting on human rights in Sri Lanka, inspired by Rajani’s memory. In 2007, UTHR-J received the prestigious Martin Ennals Human Rights Award.

Rajani’s Political Evolution

Rajani’s political evolution exemplified a principled opposition to all forms of oppression rather than adherence to any single ideological camp. As one tribute noted, she was “faithful to the more general socialist principle of opposing all forms of oppression” refusing to subordinate feminist struggles to nationalist ones or vice versa. She understood the intersectionality of oppression long before the term became widespread. Her work at Poorani demonstrated that women’s subordination was “in no way a lesser enemy than racist discrimination and persecution” in the midst of devastating war, she found time to create structures for women’s empowerment and collective action. Her life and death illustrate “how long, arduous and painful the road to victory is when human dignity and the right to dissent are violated by those who choose to use violence to resolve political issues. She remains a martyr for peace and justice, her work vital for understanding the human cost of war and the importance of defending truth even when it means standing alone