Sixth Amendment
Sixth Amendment
This ethnic violence divided the Tamil and Sinhalese nations as never before. An unprecedented impetus was given to the struggle for self-government in the Tamil homeland. Driven by the tide of ethnic sentiment, thousands of young people prepared to jump into armed struggle. Fearing the rise of the self-government struggle, the Sinhalese government hastily implemented the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, banning the Tamils’ right to self-government. This ban further fueled the struggle for self-government. At this time, the coalition leaders, who were unable to remain in Parliament or return to Tamileelam, took refuge in Tamil Nadu.
Indian Intervention
The Indian government, which had been closely observing the events that had shaken the island of Sri Lanka and its historical course until now, decided to intervene in Sri Lanka with the July riots. Jayewardene’s pro-American imperialist tendencies, which hated Indian hegemony, and the infiltration of anti-Indian forces in Sri Lanka angered the Indian government. At the same time, India feared that the independence struggle prevailing among the Eelam Tamils and the armed resistance movement of the LTTE that led to it might encourage separatist forces in the Indian subcontinent.
The Indian government decided to put an end to these threats and bring the island of Sri Lanka under its geo-centric domination. A secret plan was also drawn up by the Indian Ministry of Defense to achieve this objective. According to this secret plan, India wanted to provide weapons and training to Tamil militant organizations, intensify the armed resistance movement, put pressure on the Jayewardene government, and bring a permanent solution to the Tamil problem under unitary rule. India planned not only to suppress Jayewardene’s arrogance and bring him to his senses, but also to put an end to the independence struggle of the people of Tamileelam.
The Indian government also believed that if it provided sufficient weapons, training and financial assistance to other organizations, it could change the military balance and bring the LTTE movement, which was firmly committed to the goal of independence, under its control or even eliminate it. Indira Gandhi gave the power to implement this plan to the Indian intelligence agency ‘RAW’.
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
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