Examine any four reasons for strained relationship between the Sinhala and Tamil communities.

Sri Lanka emerged as an independent country in 1948.

• The leaders of the Sinhala community sought to secure dominance over government by virtue of their majority. As a result, the democratically elected government adopted a series of MAJORITARIAN measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.

• In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, thus disregarding Tamil.
  
• The governments followed preferential policies that favoured Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs.
  
• A new constitution stipulated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism.
  
• All these government measures, coming one after the other, gradually increased the feeling of alienation among the Sri Lankan Tamils.
  
• The Tamils felt that none of the major political parties led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders was sensitive to their language and culture.
  
• They felt that the constitution and government policies denied them equal political rights, discriminated against them in getting jobs and other opportunities and ignored their interests.