India and Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), separated by a mere strip
of water, have historical links since time immemorial, besides
sharing similar cultures. Presumably, Sri Lanka and India formed
a single mass of land around 8000 BC. The Sinhalese settlers,
who arrived on the island around the middle of the first millennium
BC, are of Indian origin, as is borne out by their language which
belongs to the Indo-Aryan family of languages" (The
Encyclopedia of Indian Diaspora, Singapore, 2006, p. 144).
A number of Tamils first went there long ago as invaders. Their
descendants are from Tamils of old Jaffna Kingdom 1215-1619 CE.
Known as the original, native, or Lanka Tamils, they mostly live
in the country's northern and eastern parts.
After successively undergoing Portuguese and Dutch occupations
in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Ceylon was ruled by the British
from 1796 to 1948. Until 1802, it was under the administrative
control of the then Madras Presidency. During the British period,
other Tamils were ferried after 1830 as workers under the kangani
(who persuaded others to emigrate as labourers) system, mainly
in the coffee, and later tea, plantations. They hailed from such
coastal districts of present Tamil Nadu and situated adjacent
to Sri Lanka as Tinnevelly, Ramnad, South Arcot, Madurai, Chinapoli
and Pudukottai. A number of them was also brought to work for
the expansion of the Colombo Harbour and in other public works
including roads, railways and docks.
The Indian Tamils, as constitutionally described, are the official
people of Indian origin (PIOs). They are discriminated against
by not only the indigenous Buddhist Sinhalese (80% of the population)
but also the Lanka Tamils (of whom 10% are Christians) and the
Moors. Representing 8% of the inhabitants, the Moors (of Arab-Malabar
origin) have integrated the local Muslim community and also speak
Tamil. The PIOs include, besides the Indian Tamils, the free immigrants,
who are in smaller number, from the sub-continent. Of different
faiths, the non-Tamils are the Meimans and Khojas (both Muslims
from western India), the Parsis, Hindu Gujaratis, Punjabis (mostly
Sikhs) and Bharatas (Catholics originating from Tuticorin, Tamil
Nadu. The free Indian Tamils also comprise the Chettiars who number
about 8800 (0.05% of the population) and are listed as a separate
group in the 2001 Census. Entrepreneurs, chiefly engaged in financial
activities, the Chettiars arrived during the 19th Century, though
a few might have come even earlier.
The Ceylon National Congress (CNC), a non-communal group founded
in 1919, is the country's first political party. As it showed
a Sinhalese bias in the very first general elections, the Lanka
Tamils soon formed their own political group (Tamil Congress).
As early as in 1928, Ceylon became the first British colony where
universal suffrage was introduced. Indian Tamils inhabiting the
tea estates in the thinly populated hilly districts were denied
voting rights. Only a small number of them could vote in the 1931
elections, though it trebled in 1936. On both occasions, merely
two of their candidates were returned. The country became independent
in 1948, and a Republic in 1972.
Looking down on Indian Tamils as foreigners whose enfranchisement
they decried, Sinhalese Buddhists campaigned for their repatriation,
using the CNC and other such groups. After Independence (1948),
the CNC [now renamed United National Party (UNP)], became stronger
than before, having massively triumphed in the succeeding elections.
It embarked upon more aggressive anti-Indian Tamil policies. Laws
on Ceylon Citizenship as well as the Indian and Pakistani Residents
were enacted in 1948, and the Parliamentary Elections Amendment
Act voted in 1949. Around 34,000 Indian Tamils had left the western
coast of Sri Lanka and Colombo by 1950. For the 1956 general elections,
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, having left the UNP and set up his own
party [Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)], pledged to make Sinhalese
the country's official language and Buddhism the state religion.
Lanka Tamils protested vehemently. Anti-Tamil riots ensued in
Colombo and the country's other cities, while Tamil property was
destroyed. Prime Minister Ms Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960-1965),
who succeeded her murdered husband (S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike)
was the world's first woman Prime Minister after Ellen L. Fairclough,
Canada's Prime Minister for only two days (19-20 February 1958).
For a short period, the Lanka and the Indian Tamils co-operated
to defend themselves against the aggressive Sinhalese. But soon,
the Indian Tamils preferred the Sinhalese UNP to the Federal Party
of the Lanka Tamils. It was in the wake of this tense communal
phase that Indian Prime Minister Nehru, who had visited the country
in 1939, was the honoured guest in Sri Lanka, as officially invited,
for the 2500th death anniversary of Lord Buddha. By 1983, about
340,000 Tamils had returned to South India.
The Indian Tamils being poor and illiterate estate labourers,
besides divided by caste considerations and exploited by the kanganis,
massively adhered to the Ceylon Indian Association founded by
communist agitators in 1923. It promoted their worker, political
and social interests. Not before 1931 was their first exclusive
trade union born, the All-Ceylon Estate Labour Federation which
did not last long. As advised by Nehru on his earlier visit, two
organisations were set up in 1939 by the Indian Tamils: the Ceylon
Indian Congress (CIC) and the Ceylon Indian Congress Labour Union
which, later renamed Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) in 1950, is
still operational.
Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman (1913-1999), the greatest champion of
the Indian Tamils' cause and born in South India, was the son
of a self-made wealthy Indian Tamil of Sri Lanka. In 1939, having
joined politics in reaction to the Sinhalese extreme nationalism,
he was appointed secretary of the CIC branch of Gampola. He dominated
the CWC which allied in turn with the SLFP and UNP. First elected
MP in 1947, he continued serving Parliament until 1999, even serving
as Minister from 1994 until his death. Thanks to him, the Indian
Tamils were given full citizen rights including the eligibility
to vote in local elections and the Grant of Citizenship to Stateless
Persons Act made in 1988. It enabled the Indian Tamils due for
repatriation to continue residing in Sri Lanka as fully-fledged
nationals. Despite their commonalities, the Lanka Tamils and the
Indian Tamils cannot see eye to eye. In the mid-1970s, under the
leadership of Thondaman, the Indian Tamils inhabiting specific
areas in the central part of the country opposed the demand of
the Lanka Tamils for a separate state for them. He hardly agreed
to the idea of a national Tamil representation through the Tamil
United Front, which afterwards came to be known as the Tamil United
Liberation Front.
The Lanka Tamil born in Jaffna, Velupillai (Thambi) Prabhakaran
(1954-2009), also militated for a separate Tamil State. He was
the supremo since 1972 of Tamil New Tigers (TNT) that he transformed
in 1976 into Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a group
commonly known as Tamil Tigers. This architect of perhaps the
longest civil war in Asia, living mostly underground, fiercely
and doggedly combated the Sinhalese authorities for the gross
injustice, as considered by him and others, meted out to the country's
minority Tamils. The Tamil Tigers now total some 20,000 whom their
austere but beloved leader, Thambi (young brother), interdicted
from drinking alcohol and smoking. Though promoting their cause
sincerely, they frenziedly perpetrated three political assassinations
- those of the Mayor of Jaffna (1975), Indian Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi (1991) and Sri Lanka's President, Ranasinghe Premadasa
(1993).
As many as 90% of the Indian Tamils on the estates are Hindus.
Of the Indian Tamils, the Christians represent 7.8% of whom the
Catholics equal 6.2%, while the Muslims a mere under 1%, with
the rest being Buddhists. Indian Tamils on the plantations are
worse off, compared to the others in the country, while their
women's fate is more piteous. According to the same source, illiteracy
among the Indian Tamils is high, and rampant on the estates.
In 1901, out of a population of 3,565,984, Lanka Tamils totalled
14.3% and Indian Tamils 12.3%. With a population of 6,652,239,
they thus accounted for in 1946: Lanka Tamils (11%) and Indian
Tamils (11.7%). This percentage rose in 1981 to 12.7% for Lanka
Tamils, but declined to 5.5% for Indian Tamils. In 2001, Lanka
Tamils numbered 736,484, and Indian Tamils 855,888 (5% of the
population).
Chit DUKHIRA
