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1956 anti-Tamil pogrom
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1956 anti-Tamil pogrom
The 1956 anti-Tamil pogrom, also known as the Gal Oya riots, was the first organised pogrom against Sri Lankan Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon. It began with anti-Tamil rioting in Colombo, followed by anti-Sinhalese rioting in the Batticaloa District. The worst of the violence took place in the Gal Oya valley after the Batticaloa attacks, where local majority Sinhalese colonists and employees of the Gal Oya Development Board commandeered government vehicles, dynamite and weapons and massacred minority Tamils. It is estimated that over 150 people, mostly Tamils, had died during the violence. The police and army were eventually able to bring the situation under control.
Gal Oya settlement scheme began in 1949 to settle landless peasants in formerly jungle land. Gal Oya river in the Eastern province was dammed and a tank was created with 40,000,000 acres (160,000 km2) of irrigated land. In 1956 the settlement had over 50 new villages where over 5,000 ethnic Tamil, Muslim, Indigenous Veddha and Sinhalese were settled. The Sinhalese were approximately 50% of the settlers. Sinhalese and others were spatially separated from each other as Sinhalese were settled at the more productive headwaters of the Gal Oya tank and the Tamils and Muslims at the down rivers closer to their former native villages. Settlement of large number of Sinhalese peasants in what Tamil nationalists considered their traditional Tamil homeland was a source of tension within the settlement area.
By 1956, 50% of clerical jobs were held by Tamils, although they were a minority of the country's population. This was partly due to the availability of Western style education built by American missionaries in the Tamil dominant Jaffna peninsula during the colonial era. The overrepresentation of Tamils was used by populist Sinhalese politicians[who?] to come to political power by promising to elevate the Sinhalese people. The pro-Sinhalese nationalist Freedom Party came to power in April 1956 promising to make Sinhala, the language of the majority Sinhalese people, the sole official language.
In the first week of May 1956, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike met with the Attorney General and the Legal Draftsman giving guidelines for the Language Bill. Bandaranaike intended to honour the mandate he got by making Sinhala the only official language, while making provisions for the reasonable use of Tamil in the northern and eastern provinces. On hearing this, Prof. F. R. Jayasuriya started a fast unto death at the parliament demanding Sinhala to be the only official language with no concessions granted to Tamil. Bandaranaike gave in and had the Language Bill changed.
In response to the proposed Language Bill the Working Committee of the Tamil Federal Party met in Jaffna to consider how to display its opposition to the Language Bill, unanimously deciding to perform a satyagraha at the steps of parliament. Its leader S. J. V. Chelvanayakam wrote to Bandaranaike on 4 June stating their decision, to which Bandaranaike issued a severe warning. Chelvanayakam responded by saying that repressive measures would "only whet the appetite of the Tamils for freedom". A contingent of volunteers were brought from Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee to Colombo by train and housed on the Bambalapitiya Vinayagar Temple.
The Sinhala Basha Arakshaka Madalaya (Sinhala Language Protection Council) had threatened to counter the Federalists' protest with a protest of its on with L. H. Mettananda claiming to meet force to force. Mettananda further called for a boycott of Tamil professionals and businesses. With communal passions running high, Bandaranaike aware of the looming danger tried to get Chelvanayakam to cancel the satyagraha demonstration. However, the Federal Party and its supporters saw no reason to cancel.
The volunteers were joined by others from Colombo on the morning of 5 June. This group was briefed by V. Navaratnam, and it formed double file and walked towards Parliament singing devotional songs and holding placards led by Chelvanayakam and C. Vanniasingam. The satyagraha protest congregated outside the parliament after the government decided to close the parliamentary debate to the public and barricade the building. They then decided to move the protest to Galle Face Green, where they sat down.
They were met by a crowd of 500 Sinhalese extremists, who pounced on them, tore up the placards and used the poles to beat them up. Vanniasingam lost his national vest and was dragged some distance by his feet. C. Suntharalingam was assaulted and A. Amirthalingam was wounded in the head. Dr E. M. V. Naganathan fought back with his fists and feet. Two Sinhalese MPs, K. M. P. Rajaratne and Nimal Karunatilake, were present in the crowd pointing out Federal Party MPs.
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1956 anti-Tamil pogrom
The 1956 anti-Tamil pogrom, also known as the Gal Oya riots, was the first organised pogrom against Sri Lankan Tamils in the Dominion of Ceylon. It began with anti-Tamil rioting in Colombo, followed by anti-Sinhalese rioting in the Batticaloa District. The worst of the violence took place in the Gal Oya valley after the Batticaloa attacks, where local majority Sinhalese colonists and employees of the Gal Oya Development Board commandeered government vehicles, dynamite and weapons and massacred minority Tamils. It is estimated that over 150 people, mostly Tamils, had died during the violence. The police and army were eventually able to bring the situation under control.
Gal Oya settlement scheme began in 1949 to settle landless peasants in formerly jungle land. Gal Oya river in the Eastern province was dammed and a tank was created with 40,000,000 acres (160,000 km2) of irrigated land. In 1956 the settlement had over 50 new villages where over 5,000 ethnic Tamil, Muslim, Indigenous Veddha and Sinhalese were settled. The Sinhalese were approximately 50% of the settlers. Sinhalese and others were spatially separated from each other as Sinhalese were settled at the more productive headwaters of the Gal Oya tank and the Tamils and Muslims at the down rivers closer to their former native villages. Settlement of large number of Sinhalese peasants in what Tamil nationalists considered their traditional Tamil homeland was a source of tension within the settlement area.
By 1956, 50% of clerical jobs were held by Tamils, although they were a minority of the country's population. This was partly due to the availability of Western style education built by American missionaries in the Tamil dominant Jaffna peninsula during the colonial era. The overrepresentation of Tamils was used by populist Sinhalese politicians[who?] to come to political power by promising to elevate the Sinhalese people. The pro-Sinhalese nationalist Freedom Party came to power in April 1956 promising to make Sinhala, the language of the majority Sinhalese people, the sole official language.
In the first week of May 1956, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike met with the Attorney General and the Legal Draftsman giving guidelines for the Language Bill. Bandaranaike intended to honour the mandate he got by making Sinhala the only official language, while making provisions for the reasonable use of Tamil in the northern and eastern provinces. On hearing this, Prof. F. R. Jayasuriya started a fast unto death at the parliament demanding Sinhala to be the only official language with no concessions granted to Tamil. Bandaranaike gave in and had the Language Bill changed.
In response to the proposed Language Bill the Working Committee of the Tamil Federal Party met in Jaffna to consider how to display its opposition to the Language Bill, unanimously deciding to perform a satyagraha at the steps of parliament. Its leader S. J. V. Chelvanayakam wrote to Bandaranaike on 4 June stating their decision, to which Bandaranaike issued a severe warning. Chelvanayakam responded by saying that repressive measures would "only whet the appetite of the Tamils for freedom". A contingent of volunteers were brought from Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee to Colombo by train and housed on the Bambalapitiya Vinayagar Temple.
The Sinhala Basha Arakshaka Madalaya (Sinhala Language Protection Council) had threatened to counter the Federalists' protest with a protest of its on with L. H. Mettananda claiming to meet force to force. Mettananda further called for a boycott of Tamil professionals and businesses. With communal passions running high, Bandaranaike aware of the looming danger tried to get Chelvanayakam to cancel the satyagraha demonstration. However, the Federal Party and its supporters saw no reason to cancel.
The volunteers were joined by others from Colombo on the morning of 5 June. This group was briefed by V. Navaratnam, and it formed double file and walked towards Parliament singing devotional songs and holding placards led by Chelvanayakam and C. Vanniasingam. The satyagraha protest congregated outside the parliament after the government decided to close the parliamentary debate to the public and barricade the building. They then decided to move the protest to Galle Face Green, where they sat down.
They were met by a crowd of 500 Sinhalese extremists, who pounced on them, tore up the placards and used the poles to beat them up. Vanniasingam lost his national vest and was dragged some distance by his feet. C. Suntharalingam was assaulted and A. Amirthalingam was wounded in the head. Dr E. M. V. Naganathan fought back with his fists and feet. Two Sinhalese MPs, K. M. P. Rajaratne and Nimal Karunatilake, were present in the crowd pointing out Federal Party MPs.
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