Abstract: The Tamil language movements in India and Sri Lanka took on two different trajectories. In Sri Lanka, what started as a political movement eventually escalated into an all-out separatist struggle. In India, the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) evolved into the Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and became a socio-political movement. Despite initial commonalities, what explains the two starkly different trajectories? This paper attempts to answer this question. At the core, there are two significant factors underscoring the different trajectories. First is institutional, with India’s federal structure compared to the Sri Lanka’s strongly centralized unitary system. In India, the federal system incentivized DK leaders to explore political options. With DMK’s electoral prominence in Tamil Nadu politics, Tamil demands found a political voice. The federal structure also incentivized a more accommodative approach by the Congress’ central level leadership. In Sri Lanka, the unitary system had the opposite effect. On the one hand it closed off all avenues for a political settlement. On the other hand, it incentivized a more hardline approach by Sinhala politicians at the centre.
Secondly, demographic realities in Sri Lanka also encouraged an increasingly hardline approach by Sinhalese leaders. With over 60% of Sri Lanka’s population Sinhalese, there was little incentives for leaders from the United Nationalist Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SFLP) to accommodate Tamil demands. India’s population was far more diverse. The Congress’ vote base cut across linguistic, religious and ethnic groups. Therefore, the pro-Hindi faction in the Congress, including Lal Bahadur Shastri preferred to walk back on their agenda to make Hindi the only official language. Ultimately, the findings demonstrate the importance of institutional and demographic realities in understanding conflict. In Sri Lanka, the institutional structure and demographic realities did not incentivize accommodation of Tamil demands. In India the institutional and demographic structures had the opposite effect.
About the speaker: Dr. Sanjal Shastri is an assistant professor of International Studies at FLAME University, Pune. Dr. Shastri has a Doctoral Degree in Political Science from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has an MA in Conflict and Terrorism Studies from the University of Auckland. Additionally, completed is MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research interests are in the field of Conflict Studies, Indian and South Asian Politics. His doctoral research was on political violence in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. He is currently working a paper which looks at rise of the BJP in Karnataka. Additionally, he is also in the early stages of a paper comparing the different trajectories of Tamil Nationalism in India and Sri Lanka. At FLAME University he teaches papers on Comparative Politics, Indian Political System and Introduction and Peace and Conflict.