India
Tamil Nationalism, Ceylon and Imperalism

Source: University of Texas Library
The recent comment of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka on Modi winning absolute majority in the general elections of India indicates his relaxation that now DMK and AIADMK will be a force to reckon within India’s foreign policy with Sri Lanka. But little did he seem to think about the hidden message that his reluctance to investigate in Tamils atrocities is signifying through this.
This reluctance includes investigating into the 26 year long military campaign in the north of Jaffna where gross human rights violations have been done by both the sides. This long civil war ended with the death of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009, but taking with it, the life of Rajiv Gandhi, India’s former Prime Minister, the reputation of India Peace keeping Force (IPKF) and an estimated 100,000 lives as per the official figure. The issue of UN Committee for investigation in this dastardly affair has deteriorated the very fibre of two neighbours whose histories have been deeply connected socially and religiously as well. India voted in favour of resolution under Jayalalitha’s pressure first, then abstained second time and did not attend the last Commonwealth meeting held in Lanka, which was not less than the last nail in the coffin of India-Lanka relations, all under DMK and AIADMK’s pressure. But with the stable government back in the centre, these relations seem to be rejuvenated with the hope of India’s support toward Lanka.
LTTE and Tamil Nationalism
Throughout the nineteenth century there was little evidence of sharp political or nationalist trend but fears of Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus of proselytising efforts of Christian missionaries were creating a stir in this quite milieu of Buddhists and Hindus. Eventually by the end of nineteenth century there was a rise of the leaders of both of these communities essentially for constitutional reform. With the recommendations of Colebrooke-Cameron Commission, representatives of Sinhalese, Ceylon Tamil, Burgher and local European communities were elected on the behest of governor as an eyewash democratic process similar to Montagu Chelmsford reforms in India.
This representation of power equation initiated the conflict between these two ethnicities. For a matter of fact, this tension dates back to the time when Britons came to Sri Lanka and merged three sovereign states of Portuguese and Dutch forming one Ceylon, now Sri Lanka creating indifference between two communities which was visible in the attempt of Colebrooke reforms which was formulated to give Kandyan Sinhalese recognition in the state. As large provinces proved difficult to administer, Britons divided the country by demarcating a Northern Province and Northern Central Province, which further asserted the separate nature of Kandyan Sinhalese. The Grea Kandyan Rebellion of 1848 was the last attempt of Kandyan Sinhalese Chief to assert that separateness.
With the completion of unification of country, the last isolated area in north of Island inhabited mostly by Ceylon Tamils was linked through railway lines from Colombo to Jaffna and an attempt was made to establish communication between low country Sinhalese traders and Kandyan Sinhalese population. This interconnectivity led the Ceylon Tamil to Colombo in search of better jobs, opportunities and eventually the demand of proper representation of Executive Council. The divide among various ethnicities were there since beginning and the first instance of this divide was visible with the appointment of Poonambalam Arunachalam, a Tamilian as a representative of both Tamils and Sinhalese after Donoughmore Commission rejected the idea of communal representation and reformed legislative council.
British Governor William Manning is considered responsible for the formation of All India Ceylon Congress, a product of Tamil nationalism and many writers have quoted him responsible to this Tamil-Sinhala divide. But as the history suggests, this divide was always there alive. It was just the repression of British governance which initiated the feeling of nationalism. Where Nationalism for Sinhalese was a separate state, for Tamils it initiated through the ladder of political power struggle.
With such complex structure of ethnicity, political representation and other such issues of an underdeveloped country, British left India is 1948 and amid this turmoil came the controversial Citizenship Act of 1948 where anyone born in Ceylon had to prove that they are third generation immigrants which resulted in disqualification of 70,000 Tamils, about 11% of the population, which indeed was their actual representation.
The another factor which strengthened the feeling of Tamil Nationalism was Sinhala Only Act 1956 which made Sinhala the only official language of the country and Tamils who did not know Sinhala had to leave their jobs. This was not though the first attempt to introduce Sinhala as an official language, the first attempt being made by J.R Jayawardene in 1944 in State Council which was rejected due to proper representations of Europeans and Tamils in the Council.
In the backdrop of such discrimination occurred the first ethnic riots in 1956 named as Gal Oya riots where minority Tamils were massacred by a Sinhala mob led by a junior minister and 150 people lost their lives while protesting for the discriminatory policies of government. 1958 widespread riots on Tamils was the epitome of Tamil struggle in the country and soon afterwards the demand of Tamil Eelam (a separate nation of Tamil) started gaining momentum. Tamil parties called for regional autonomy and in 1975 all parties merged together to form Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). Its first resolution adopted at Vaddukodai calling for “Free, Sovereign, Secular Socialist State of TAMIL EELAM” marked the official beginning of Tamil separatism.
TULF won 18 seats in 1977 elections in Tamil dominated districts of North and East making it the largest opposition party in Parliament. With a force to reckon with , the concept of District Development Council came forth in 1980 decentralising power but due to differences this scheme was scrapped off. In 1983 the Sixth Amendment was passed and required Tamil members of parliament and Tamils in public office to take the oath of allegiance to the unitary state of Sri Lanka. The Sixth Amendment forbade advocating a separate state even by peaceful means. Consequently, the TULF was expelled from the parliament for refusing to take the oath.
A outfit with hit and run tactic had started taking form outside these political circles under Vellupillai Prabahakaran,a student leader and this separatist campaign got its support from a former British employee named Anton Balasingham from London. Prabhakaran, together with Chetti Thanabalasingam, a well known criminal from Kalviyankadu, Jaffna formed the Tamil New Tigers (TNT) in 1972, their symbol being a Tiger. Another movement called Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS) was formed in London and Manchester considered as the backbone of the Tamil struggle in Lanka. It became the basis of the Eelamist logistical organization, later taken over entirely by LTTE.
Outfit’s first major operation was the assassination of the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah in 1975 by Prabhakaran which initiated a civil war that lasted 26 years and is still having an impact in the North of Sri Lanka.
The civil war was a product of British scheming of bringing together communities which never had a link just for the sake of ease of administration which worked as the seed of conflict, saw its growth with Policy Standardization Acts of Sinhala dominated government in the center which lead to the suppression of Tamils eventually culminating in one of the deadliest ethnic conflict of world history.
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