Sri Lanka

samcster94

Banned
What is the best case scenario for the Island Nation following independence from the British?? The country OTL was once known for hating Hindus but now is becoming hostile to Muslims as monks threaten them.
I don't know this country well, but I do feel it can get a better hand in the game.
 
What is the best case scenario for the Island Nation following independence from the British?? The country OTL was once known for hating Hindus but now is becoming hostile to Muslims as monks threaten them.
I don't know this country well, but I do feel it can get a better hand in the game.
So, you mean Sri Lanka that treats its minorities better? Or a Sri Lanka internacionally know for other things apart mistreating minorities?
 
Sri Lanka shouldn't discriminate minorities speciality Tamils. It was reason for long-lasted civil war.
 
Don't have a 30+ year civil war against a "terrorist group" which effectively operated its own state and had a well-equipped army, navy, and force. Avoiding the civil war or at least ending it quickly would automatically mean a better Sri Lanka as well as take away one of the most notorious aspects of the country.
 
Don't have a 30+ year civil war against a "terrorist group" which effectively operated its own state and had a well-equipped army, navy, and force. Avoiding the civil war or at least ending it quickly would automatically mean a better Sri Lanka as well as take away one of the most notorious aspects of the country.
Sri Lanka is kind of the Cyprus of South Asia when it comes to persistent ethno-religious conflict. If you want to significantly worsen relations or create a proxy war between a more explicitly Hindu nationalist India and a Buddhist state, that's the way to do it.
 
India, especially the Government of India never supported or encouraged the LTTE or any other terrorist organisation in Sri Lanka. There were individuals and organisations in Tamilnadu who were sympathetic and helpful towards the LTTE and other Tamil fighters. But that is a natural sentiment when we consider the very powerful love of the Tamil people for their language and those who speak it anywhere in the world. Tamilians, in contrast to the people of many other states in India literally worship Tamil language.
The Tamil fighters never considered themselves as Hindus, though they were mainly Hindus. They considered themselves as Tamils first and Tamils last. The Hindu nationalists in India never felt any affinity towards the Tamil fighters and any enmity towards the Buddhist extremists. The Government of India was more worried about a separate Eelam or Tamil state in Sri Lanka as it could encourage Tamils in India. If there are around three million Tamils in Sri Lanka, there are more than 60 million Tamils in India.
Tamil separatism had some support in India at the time of independence and for a few years after it. It was DMK that championed separatism in the name of Dravidanadu. They abandoned it later and now after seventy years and also after becoming partners in the Central Government in New Delhi they know how large and tempting is the honeypot in NewDelhi, when compared to the small booty available in Chennai!
It must also may be noted that it was the discriminatory attitude of the successive Sri Lankan Governments that led to the resentment of the Tamilians and the quarter century civil war. If the Government of India had favored and actively supported the LTTE the result of the civil war would have been different! The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi had turned even those groups in Tamilnadu who had sympathies towards LTTE against them. It was the greatest blunder committed by Prabhakaran that led to the destruction of his outfit and himself.
 

samcster94

Banned
Sri Lanka is kind of the Cyprus of South Asia when it comes to persistent ethno-religious conflict. If you want to significantly worsen relations or create a proxy war between a more explicitly Hindu nationalist India and a Buddhist state, that's the way to do it.
Sinhala-only language laws clearly weren't the best idea to deal with an multethnic state.
 
Sinhala-only language laws clearly weren't the best idea to deal with an multethnic state.
Yeah, ham-handed attempts to assert one language over all the others another or assimilate a geographically compact linguistic group (with a separate religion too, even easier to build a cohesive sub identity) rarely go well.
 
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