Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism
Encyclopedia
Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism is the conviction of the Sri Lankan Tamil people, a minority ethnic group in the South Asian island country of Sri Lanka
(formerly known as Ceylon), that they have the right to constitute an independent or autonomous political community. This idea has not always existed. Sri Lankan Tamil national awareness began during the era of British rule
during the 18th century, as Tamil Hindu
revivalists tried to counter Protestant
missionary activity. The revivalists, led by Arumuga Navalar, used literacy as a tool to spread Hinduism and its principles.
The reformed legislative council, introduced in 1921 by the British, was based on principles of communal representation, which led the Tamils to realize that they were the minority ethnic group and that they should be represented by a member of their own community. It was under this communal representation that Tamil national awareness changed to national consciousness—a less passive state. They formed a Tamil political party called the All Ceylon Tamil Congress
(ACTC). In the years leading to Sri Lankan independence, political tension began to develop between the majority Sinhalese
and minority Tamil communities as the ACTC, citing the possibility of the majority Sinhalese adopting a dominant posture, pushed for “fifty-fifty” representation in parliament. This policy would allot half the seats in parliament to the Sinhalese majority and half to the minority communities: the Muslims
, the Tamils and the Indian Tamils.
After Sri Lanka achieved independence in 1948, the ACTC decided to merge with the ruling United National Party
(UNP). This move was not supported by half of the ACTC members and resulted in a split—one half of the party decided to merge with the UNP and the other half decided to leave the party altogether, forming a new Tamil party in 1949, the Federal party. Policies adopted by successive Sinhalese governments, and the 1956 success of the Sinhala Nationalist government under Solomon Bandaranaike
, made the Federal Party the main voice of Tamil politics. Increased racial and political tension between the two communities led to the merger of all Tamil political parties into the Tamil United Liberation Front
. This was followed by the emergence of a militant, armed form of Tamil nationalism
.
The arrival of Protestant missionaries on a large scale to Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), beginning in 1814, was a primary contributor to the development of political awareness among Tamils. The activities of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
, Methodists and Anglican churches led to a revival among Tamils of the Hindu
faith. Arumuga Navalar led a Hindu religious revivalist and reformist movement as a defensive response to the threat to their native culture posed by the British colonial and missionary activities. He translated literary works to encourage the use of the Tamil Language and spread Hindu Saiva principles. Navalar’s efforts to revive Hinduism, the predominant religion of the Sri Lankan Tamil people, influenced Tamils who built their own schools, temples, and societies, and who published literature to counter that of the missionaries. Thus, by 1925 nearly 50 schools, including the Batticotta Seminary
, were fully functioning. This revival movement also set the stage for modern Tamil prose.
The success of this effort led the Tamils to think confidently of themselves as a community and prepared the way for their awareness of a common cultural, religious and linguisitic kinship in the mid-nineteenth century.
For these contributions to the Tamil people, Arumugam Navalar has been described as a leader who gave his community a distinct identity. Jaffna's history
(known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, now northern Sri Lanka) of being an independent Tamil kingdom lends legitimacy to the political claims of the Sri Lankan Tamils, and has provided a focus for their constitutional demands.
http://www.vavuniyatoday.com/
controlled the whole island by 1815, and unified the country administratively in 1833 with a legislative council that acted as advisor to the Governor. The council was composed of three Europeans and one representative each of the Sinhalese, the Sri Lankan Tamils, and the Burghers
. But this situation changed in 1919 with the arrival of British Governor William Manning, who actively encouraged the idea of "communal representation". He created the reformed legislative council in 1921 and its first election returned thirteen Sinhalese and three Tamils, a significant loss in representation for the Tamils when compared to the previous council based on direct appointment by the governor. Because of this, the Tamils began to develop a communal consciousness and to think of themselves as a minority community. They focused on communal representation in the council rather than national representation, and decided that their delegates should be leaders from their own community. This new sense of community identity changed the direction of Tamil nationalism. Starting in the mid-1920s, their developing national awareness transformed into a more active national consciousness, with a heightened determination to protect the interests of the Ceylon Tamil community. Influenced heavily by political history and, perhaps more importantly, Colombo
-centered developments of the British administration, this emerging Tamil national consciousness led to the establishment of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress
headed by Tamil politician, G. G. Ponnambalam
.
, which rejected communal representation, was formed. Instead, the Commission introduced universal franchise
, in which representation was proportionate to percentage of population. The Tamil leadership strongly opposed this plan, realizing that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament. Many Sinhalese
were also against the idea of universal franchise for all caste
s. G. G. Ponnambalam
publicly protested the Donooughmore Commission and proposed to the Soulbury Commission
, which had replaced the Donooughmore Commission, that roughly equal numbers of congressional seats be assigned to Tamils and to Sinhalese in the new independent Ceylon being planned, but his proposal was rejected. From the introduction of the advisory council, through the Donoughmore Commission in 1931, to the Soulbury Commission in 1947, the primary dispute between the elite of the Sinhalese and Tamils was over the question of representation, not the structure of the government. This issue of power-sharing was used by the nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter-ethnic rivalry which has been gaining momentum ever since.
Ponnambalam's advocacy of Tamil nationalism was paralleled by a similar Sinhala nationalism of Sinhala Maha Sabha
, led by future Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike
. This created tension between the two leaders and caused the exchange of verbal attacks, with Ponnampalam calling himself a "proud Dravidian
". This interethnic and political stress led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939.(see Riots and pogroms in Sri Lanka)
The All Ceylon Tamil Congress
(ACTC), founded by G. G. Ponnambalam
in 1944, was popular among Tamils because it promoted the preservation of Tamil identity. The ACTC advocated a "fifty-fifty" policy, in which fifty percent of the seats in parliament would be reserved for Tamils and other minorities, the remaining fifty percent going to the Sinhalese. Which means 50% of the opportunities [Education(University seats),Employment, etc.) should be allocated to minorities. According to the ACTC this was a necessary defensive measure to prevent unwarranted dominance by the Sinhalese. In 1947, Ponnambalam warned the Soulbury Commission
about this potential problem, and presented the ACTC's solution, which he called a "balanced representation". This fifty-fifty policy was opposed by a Muslim minority
and sections of the Tamil community. D. S. Senanayake, the leader of the Sinhalese political groups, allowed Ponnambalam full control over presentations before the Soulbury Commission, prevented Sinhalese nationalists such as Solomon Bandaranaike
from taking the stage, and avoided the eruption of acrimonious arguments. But the Soulbury commission rejected the charges of discrimination against the Tamils, and also rejected the fifty-fifty formula as subverting democracy.
Later the ACTC decided to adopt a new policy: "responsive cooperation" with "progressive-minded Sinhalese". Yet in 1948, Ponnampalam decided to merge the ACTC with the ruling United National Party
(UNP), although he had stated earlier that the UNP was not progressive-minded. The merge was not supported by the entire party, and it ended up splitting the ACTC in half, with one faction merging with D. S. Senanayake’s UNP and the other, led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, deciding to leave the party altogether and advocated for equal rights, 100% opportunities for Tamils without any racial barrier. In 1948, Ponnampalam voted in favour of one of several bills, later known as the Ceylon Citizenship Act
which disenfranchised Indian Tamils ("Hill Country Tamils"). Although he did not vote for the other bills in the Ceylon Citizenship Act, because of his silence in parliament the Tamil public believed that he was not committed to Indian Tamil rights. The ACTC remained the major Tamil political party until 1956, when the Federal Party took over that position. The Tamil Congress still held parliamentary positions, however, and continued to be a force in Tamil politics. In 1976, the ACTC merged with other Tamil political factions to form a new party called the Tamil United Liberation Front
(TULF). According to A. J Wilson, it was the legacy of Ponnampalam that the consciousness of the Tamil people was raised, and they were inspired to see themselves as a separate Tamil national identity rather as merged in an all-island polity.
, it gained popularity among the Tamil people because it advocated Tamil rights. Its popularity was also due to the party's opposition to the Ceylon Citizenship Act and the Sinhala Only Act
. As a result, the Federal party became the dominant party in the Tamil districts after the 1956 elections. Despite this, the Federal Party never asked for a separate Tamil state or even for self-determination. Instead they lobbied for a unified state which gave Tamil and Sinhalese equal status as the official language and provided for considerable autonomy in the Tamil areas.
It was against this backdrop that the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact was signed in July 1957, but pressure from the opposition and extremist groups forced Bandaranaike to abolish the pact. After the assassination of Bandaranaike
, another pact was signed in 1965 between Chelvanayakam and Dudley Senenayake called the Dudey-Chelvanayakam pact, but this agreement, like the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact, was never implemented. The UNP was defeated in the 1970 election and replaced by the United Front (UF)
, led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike
, the widow of Solomon Bandaranaike.
The new government adopted two new policies that discriminated against the Tamil people. First, the government introduced a double standard for admission grades to universities, requiring the Tamil students to achieve higher grades than the Sinhalese students. Secondly, the same kind of policy was adopted for jobs as public servants, which were held by less than ten percent of the Tamil-speaking population. The Federal Party opposed these policies, and as a result Chelvanayakam resigned his parliamentary seat in October 1972. Shortly after, in 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand a separate, autonomous Tamil state. Until 1973, Chelvanayakam and the Federal Party had always campaigned for a unified country and thought that any partitioning would be “suicidal”. The new policies, however, were considered to be discriminatory by the Tamil leadership, and this modified the official position on Tamil Nationalism. To further the new political agenda, in 1975 the Federal Party merged with the other Tamil political parties to become the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). In 1976, after the first national convention of TULF, the Ceylon Tamils moved toward a revised nationalism and were now unwilling to live within a confined, single-island entity.
(TULF) was formed when the Tamil political parties merged and adopted the Vaddukoddai Resolution, named after the village, Vaddukoddai
, where it was developed. In the 1977 election, TULF became the first Tamil Nationalist party to run on a separatist platform. It gained a majority of the votes in the north and east, won 18 seats, and became the largest opposition party in parliament. The Vaddukoddai Resolution had a profound effect on Tamil politics—the parliamentary system was soon to be replaced by guns. TULF tried to refashion itself as the political division, negotiating an agreement with the executive president of Sri Lanka at that time, J.R. Jayewardene
. This agreement, known as the District Development Councils’ Scheme, was passed in 1980, but TULF rejected it because J.R. Jayewardene had not agreed to let TULF have the five District Ministerships in the five Tamil districts where TULF received the most votes. The Sixth Amendment was passed in 1983, requiring Tamils in parliament and other public offices to take an oath of allegiance to the unified state of Sri Lanka. It forbade the advocating of a separate state, and consequently TULF members were expelled from parliament for refusing to take the oath.
After the expulsion of TULF from parliament, militants ruled the Tamil political movement. As a result, the 1970s saw the emergence of more than 30 Tamil militant groups. Anton Balasingham
, the theoretician of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), states that the causes of the militarization of the Tamil youth were unemployment, lack of opportunities for higher education, and the imposition of an alien language. He further alleges that the majority Sinhalese government was responsible for these problems, adding that the only alternative left for Tamil youths was a "revolutionary armed struggle for the independence of their nation". Only five of the militant groups—People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
(PLOTE), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization
(TELO), Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
(EPRLF), Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students
(EROS) and LTTE—remained a potent political force; the rest were flawed ideologically and therefore not strictly Tamil Nationalist factions.
Of these five dominant groups, the LTTE is the most solidly nationalistic Tamil resistance organization. Furthermore, because of its policies, constructive Tamil Nationalist platform, and desire for national self-determination, the LTTE is supported by major sections of the Tamil community. It had established a de facto state in the areas under its control, called Tamil Eelam
, and had managed a government in these areas, providing state functions such as courts, a police force, a human rights organization, and a humanitarian assistance board. a health board, and an education board. In addition, it ran a bank (Bank of Tamil Eelam), a radio station (Voice of Tigers) and a television station (National Television of Tamil Eelam).
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
(formerly known as Ceylon), that they have the right to constitute an independent or autonomous political community. This idea has not always existed. Sri Lankan Tamil national awareness began during the era of British rule
British Ceylon
British Ceylon refers to British rule prior to 1948 of the island territory now known as Sri Lanka.-From the Dutch to the British:Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for...
during the 18th century, as Tamil Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
revivalists tried to counter Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
missionary activity. The revivalists, led by Arumuga Navalar, used literacy as a tool to spread Hinduism and its principles.
The reformed legislative council, introduced in 1921 by the British, was based on principles of communal representation, which led the Tamils to realize that they were the minority ethnic group and that they should be represented by a member of their own community. It was under this communal representation that Tamil national awareness changed to national consciousness—a less passive state. They formed a Tamil political party called the All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
(ACTC). In the years leading to Sri Lankan independence, political tension began to develop between the majority Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
and minority Tamil communities as the ACTC, citing the possibility of the majority Sinhalese adopting a dominant posture, pushed for “fifty-fifty” representation in parliament. This policy would allot half the seats in parliament to the Sinhalese majority and half to the minority communities: the Muslims
Sri Lankan Moors
The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...
, the Tamils and the Indian Tamils.
After Sri Lanka achieved independence in 1948, the ACTC decided to merge with the ruling United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
(UNP). This move was not supported by half of the ACTC members and resulted in a split—one half of the party decided to merge with the UNP and the other half decided to leave the party altogether, forming a new Tamil party in 1949, the Federal party. Policies adopted by successive Sinhalese governments, and the 1956 success of the Sinhala Nationalist government under Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
, made the Federal Party the main voice of Tamil politics. Increased racial and political tension between the two communities led to the merger of all Tamil political parties into the Tamil United Liberation Front
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
. This was followed by the emergence of a militant, armed form of Tamil nationalism
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception amongst minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese...
.
Early beginning
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
, Methodists and Anglican churches led to a revival among Tamils of the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
faith. Arumuga Navalar led a Hindu religious revivalist and reformist movement as a defensive response to the threat to their native culture posed by the British colonial and missionary activities. He translated literary works to encourage the use of the Tamil Language and spread Hindu Saiva principles. Navalar’s efforts to revive Hinduism, the predominant religion of the Sri Lankan Tamil people, influenced Tamils who built their own schools, temples, and societies, and who published literature to counter that of the missionaries. Thus, by 1925 nearly 50 schools, including the Batticotta Seminary
Batticotta Seminary
The Batticotta Seminary was an educational institute founded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 's American Ceylon Mission at Vaddukodai, in the Jaffna Peninsula north Sri Lanka in 1823. It was closed in 1855. The reason for such a decision being that it was not successful...
, were fully functioning. This revival movement also set the stage for modern Tamil prose.
The success of this effort led the Tamils to think confidently of themselves as a community and prepared the way for their awareness of a common cultural, religious and linguisitic kinship in the mid-nineteenth century.
For these contributions to the Tamil people, Arumugam Navalar has been described as a leader who gave his community a distinct identity. Jaffna's history
Jaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...
(known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, now northern Sri Lanka) of being an independent Tamil kingdom lends legitimacy to the political claims of the Sri Lankan Tamils, and has provided a focus for their constitutional demands.
http://www.vavuniyatoday.com/
Communal Consciousness
Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
controlled the whole island by 1815, and unified the country administratively in 1833 with a legislative council that acted as advisor to the Governor. The council was composed of three Europeans and one representative each of the Sinhalese, the Sri Lankan Tamils, and the Burghers
Burgher people
The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...
. But this situation changed in 1919 with the arrival of British Governor William Manning, who actively encouraged the idea of "communal representation". He created the reformed legislative council in 1921 and its first election returned thirteen Sinhalese and three Tamils, a significant loss in representation for the Tamils when compared to the previous council based on direct appointment by the governor. Because of this, the Tamils began to develop a communal consciousness and to think of themselves as a minority community. They focused on communal representation in the council rather than national representation, and decided that their delegates should be leaders from their own community. This new sense of community identity changed the direction of Tamil nationalism. Starting in the mid-1920s, their developing national awareness transformed into a more active national consciousness, with a heightened determination to protect the interests of the Ceylon Tamil community. Influenced heavily by political history and, perhaps more importantly, Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
-centered developments of the British administration, this emerging Tamil national consciousness led to the establishment of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
headed by Tamil politician, G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
.
Development
Historic changes occurred in 1931: the reformed legislative council was eliminated, and the Donoughmore CommissionDonoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon...
, which rejected communal representation, was formed. Instead, the Commission introduced universal franchise
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
, in which representation was proportionate to percentage of population. The Tamil leadership strongly opposed this plan, realizing that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament. Many Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
were also against the idea of universal franchise for all caste
Caste system in Sri Lanka
The Caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata, differing somewhat from the classic Varnas of North India but is similar in nature to the Jāti system found in South India...
s. G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
publicly protested the Donooughmore Commission and proposed to the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
, which had replaced the Donooughmore Commission, that roughly equal numbers of congressional seats be assigned to Tamils and to Sinhalese in the new independent Ceylon being planned, but his proposal was rejected. From the introduction of the advisory council, through the Donoughmore Commission in 1931, to the Soulbury Commission in 1947, the primary dispute between the elite of the Sinhalese and Tamils was over the question of representation, not the structure of the government. This issue of power-sharing was used by the nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter-ethnic rivalry which has been gaining momentum ever since.
Ponnambalam's advocacy of Tamil nationalism was paralleled by a similar Sinhala nationalism of Sinhala Maha Sabha
Sinhala Maha Sabha
The Sinhala Maha Sabha was a political party in Sri Lanka founded by Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in 1934-35, in order to promote Sinhalese culture and community interests. Backing the United National Party from 1946, it left the UNP with Bandaranaike in 1951 to form the Sri Lanka...
, led by future Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
. This created tension between the two leaders and caused the exchange of verbal attacks, with Ponnampalam calling himself a "proud Dravidian
Dravidian peoples
Dravidian peoples is a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. Populations of speakers of around 220 million are found mostly in Southern India. Other Dravidian people are found in parts of central India, Sri Lanka,...
". This interethnic and political stress led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939.(see Riots and pogroms in Sri Lanka)
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
(ACTC), founded by G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
in 1944, was popular among Tamils because it promoted the preservation of Tamil identity. The ACTC advocated a "fifty-fifty" policy, in which fifty percent of the seats in parliament would be reserved for Tamils and other minorities, the remaining fifty percent going to the Sinhalese. Which means 50% of the opportunities [Education(University seats),Employment, etc.) should be allocated to minorities. According to the ACTC this was a necessary defensive measure to prevent unwarranted dominance by the Sinhalese. In 1947, Ponnambalam warned the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
about this potential problem, and presented the ACTC's solution, which he called a "balanced representation". This fifty-fifty policy was opposed by a Muslim minority
Sri Lankan Moors
The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...
and sections of the Tamil community. D. S. Senanayake, the leader of the Sinhalese political groups, allowed Ponnambalam full control over presentations before the Soulbury Commission, prevented Sinhalese nationalists such as Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
from taking the stage, and avoided the eruption of acrimonious arguments. But the Soulbury commission rejected the charges of discrimination against the Tamils, and also rejected the fifty-fifty formula as subverting democracy.
Later the ACTC decided to adopt a new policy: "responsive cooperation" with "progressive-minded Sinhalese". Yet in 1948, Ponnampalam decided to merge the ACTC with the ruling United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
(UNP), although he had stated earlier that the UNP was not progressive-minded. The merge was not supported by the entire party, and it ended up splitting the ACTC in half, with one faction merging with D. S. Senanayake’s UNP and the other, led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, deciding to leave the party altogether and advocated for equal rights, 100% opportunities for Tamils without any racial barrier. In 1948, Ponnampalam voted in favour of one of several bills, later known as the Ceylon Citizenship Act
Ceylon Citizenship Act
The Ceylon Citizenship Act No. 18 of 1948 was a controversial law passed by the Ceylon Parliament which denied citizenship to 11% of the population.-Background:...
which disenfranchised Indian Tamils ("Hill Country Tamils"). Although he did not vote for the other bills in the Ceylon Citizenship Act, because of his silence in parliament the Tamil public believed that he was not committed to Indian Tamil rights. The ACTC remained the major Tamil political party until 1956, when the Federal Party took over that position. The Tamil Congress still held parliamentary positions, however, and continued to be a force in Tamil politics. In 1976, the ACTC merged with other Tamil political factions to form a new party called the Tamil United Liberation Front
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
(TULF). According to A. J Wilson, it was the legacy of Ponnampalam that the consciousness of the Tamil people was raised, and they were inspired to see themselves as a separate Tamil national identity rather as merged in an all-island polity.
Federal Party
In 1949, a new Tamil party, called the Federal Party ("Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi"), was organized by the people who broke away from the ACTC. Led by ChelvanayakamS. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...
, it gained popularity among the Tamil people because it advocated Tamil rights. Its popularity was also due to the party's opposition to the Ceylon Citizenship Act and the Sinhala Only Act
Sinhala Only Act
The Sinhala Only Act was a law passed in the Ceylonese parliament in 1956...
. As a result, the Federal party became the dominant party in the Tamil districts after the 1956 elections. Despite this, the Federal Party never asked for a separate Tamil state or even for self-determination. Instead they lobbied for a unified state which gave Tamil and Sinhalese equal status as the official language and provided for considerable autonomy in the Tamil areas.
It was against this backdrop that the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact was signed in July 1957, but pressure from the opposition and extremist groups forced Bandaranaike to abolish the pact. After the assassination of Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
, another pact was signed in 1965 between Chelvanayakam and Dudley Senenayake called the Dudey-Chelvanayakam pact, but this agreement, like the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact, was never implemented. The UNP was defeated in the 1970 election and replaced by the United Front (UF)
United Front (Sri Lanka)
The United Front was a political alliance in Sri Lanka, formed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party , the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in 1968...
, led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
, the widow of Solomon Bandaranaike.
The new government adopted two new policies that discriminated against the Tamil people. First, the government introduced a double standard for admission grades to universities, requiring the Tamil students to achieve higher grades than the Sinhalese students. Secondly, the same kind of policy was adopted for jobs as public servants, which were held by less than ten percent of the Tamil-speaking population. The Federal Party opposed these policies, and as a result Chelvanayakam resigned his parliamentary seat in October 1972. Shortly after, in 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand a separate, autonomous Tamil state. Until 1973, Chelvanayakam and the Federal Party had always campaigned for a unified country and thought that any partitioning would be “suicidal”. The new policies, however, were considered to be discriminatory by the Tamil leadership, and this modified the official position on Tamil Nationalism. To further the new political agenda, in 1975 the Federal Party merged with the other Tamil political parties to become the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). In 1976, after the first national convention of TULF, the Ceylon Tamils moved toward a revised nationalism and were now unwilling to live within a confined, single-island entity.
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation FrontTamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
(TULF) was formed when the Tamil political parties merged and adopted the Vaddukoddai Resolution, named after the village, Vaddukoddai
Vaddukoddai
Vaddukoddai is small but important town in the minority Sri Lankan Tamil dominated Jaffna peninsula of Sri Lanka...
, where it was developed. In the 1977 election, TULF became the first Tamil Nationalist party to run on a separatist platform. It gained a majority of the votes in the north and east, won 18 seats, and became the largest opposition party in parliament. The Vaddukoddai Resolution had a profound effect on Tamil politics—the parliamentary system was soon to be replaced by guns. TULF tried to refashion itself as the political division, negotiating an agreement with the executive president of Sri Lanka at that time, J.R. Jayewardene
Junius Richard Jayewardene
Junius Richard Jayewardene , famously abbreviated in Sri Lanka as JR, was the first executive President of Sri Lanka, serving from 1978 till 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence...
. This agreement, known as the District Development Councils’ Scheme, was passed in 1980, but TULF rejected it because J.R. Jayewardene had not agreed to let TULF have the five District Ministerships in the five Tamil districts where TULF received the most votes. The Sixth Amendment was passed in 1983, requiring Tamils in parliament and other public offices to take an oath of allegiance to the unified state of Sri Lanka. It forbade the advocating of a separate state, and consequently TULF members were expelled from parliament for refusing to take the oath.
Militant groups
Anton Balasingham
Anton Stanislaus Balasingham was the chief political strategist and chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam a militant organization...
, the theoretician of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
(LTTE), states that the causes of the militarization of the Tamil youth were unemployment, lack of opportunities for higher education, and the imposition of an alien language. He further alleges that the majority Sinhalese government was responsible for these problems, adding that the only alternative left for Tamil youths was a "revolutionary armed struggle for the independence of their nation". Only five of the militant groups—People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam is a former Tamil militant group. It is currently a pro-government paramilitary group and political party. PLOTE's political wing is known as the Democratic People's Liberation Front.-Origins:...
(PLOTE), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization
The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization is an Eelam Tamil organisation campaigning for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka. The TELO was originally created as a militant group, and functioned as such until 1986, when most of its membership was killed in a...
(TELO), Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front is a Sri Lankan political party and a former militant separatist group.-Militant separatists:The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K...
(EPRLF), Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students
Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students
The Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students , also known as the Eelam Revolutionary Organisers, is a former Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka. Most of the EROS membership was absorbed into the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1990. The rump, which continues to use the EROS name, has...
(EROS) and LTTE—remained a potent political force; the rest were flawed ideologically and therefore not strictly Tamil Nationalist factions.
Of these five dominant groups, the LTTE is the most solidly nationalistic Tamil resistance organization. Furthermore, because of its policies, constructive Tamil Nationalist platform, and desire for national self-determination, the LTTE is supported by major sections of the Tamil community. It had established a de facto state in the areas under its control, called Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...
, and had managed a government in these areas, providing state functions such as courts, a police force, a human rights organization, and a humanitarian assistance board. a health board, and an education board. In addition, it ran a bank (Bank of Tamil Eelam), a radio station (Voice of Tigers) and a television station (National Television of Tamil Eelam).