Bandaranaike abandoned bilingualism for tactical electoral advantage.

Evidence

Sinhalese and Tamil leaders had joined forces to clamor for swabasha (self-language), whereby both Sinhala and Tamil would replace English as the island’s official languages. But S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) realized they could use a Sinhala-only platform to outdo the UNP, and Bandaranaike soon campaigned on the slogan “Sinhala only in twenty-four hours.” — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 122

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s question about whether Sinhalese-Tamil enmity is manufactured by political competition rather than primordial identity. — connects to: Bandaranaike manufactured a Sinhala-only platform to outbid rivals despite earlier bilingual solidarity — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 122