Sinhalese governments invented Tamil separateness for political self-preservation

Evidence

[Sinhalese] governments were more preoccupied with securing their own base among the Sinhalese … at virtually any cost-or rather, in the political auction, preventing themselves being pushed out by their rivals. If the Tamils had not existed, Colombo would have had to invent them. And, in an important sense, it did. It was Colombo that forced the inhabitants of the north to become different, to cease to be Sri Lankan and become exclusively Tamil (Harris 1990: 221). — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 228

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Tamil nationalism and the LTTE were manufactured by Sinhalese ethnocentric government policies. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 227; Divide-and-rule government bred tribal nationalism by teaching that nationhood requires oppressing others; With the Tamil enemy removed, nationalists manufactured a Muslim threat to sustain group solidarity — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1369 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Tamil nationalism and the LTTE were manufactured by Sinhalese ethnocentric government policies. #corroborates (0.95) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 227
• With the Tamil enemy removed, nationalists manufactured a Muslim threat to sustain group solidarity #expands (0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1369
• Divide-and-rule government bred tribal nationalism by teaching that nationhood requires oppressing others #expands (0.70)