Conceding language-inclusive equality was foreclosed by the Sinhala-only commitment.
Evidence
Religion and language are paramount to group identity, and they often promote zero-sum considerations, as was the case in the decision to institute an official language following the 1956 elections. An equal position would have required making both languages national languages, as the swabasha movement had initially proposed. But with Sinhalese leaders having committed to a Sinhala-only policy, the stage was set for Tamil nationalism to counter Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 127
Categorization
- XREF: The pivotal decision point: a moderate all-inclusive solution existed but was foreclosed, then threat and counter-threat locked in — relevant to manufactured vs. primordial enmity and institutional ‘off-ramps’. — connects to: Tamil overrepresentation under colonialism fueled Sinhala-only demands.; British colonial rule manufactured the Sinhala-Tamil fissure that later elites exploited. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 605; The Sinhala language conflates race, nation, and people, blocking a multiethnic state idea. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 190
Broader Connections
- Tamil overrepresentation under colonialism fueled Sinhala-only demands.
#expands(0.82) - The Sinhala language conflates race, nation, and people, blocking a multiethnic state idea.
#expands(0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 190 - British colonial rule manufactured the Sinhala-Tamil fissure that later elites exploited.
#complicates(0.78) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 605