P Harshi Diaz, in Daily FT, 27 May 2026, where the title runs thus: “A comment on Dayan Jayatilleka’s ‘The Federalist fantasy: Tamil political tragedy, Lankan political history’,”
Dayan Jayatilleka rightly challenges the narrative that S. J. V. Chelvanayakam turned to federalism only after supposedly foreseeing Sinhala majoritarian discrimination against Tamils following the 1948 Citizenship Act. ……………………………………… (See https://www.ft.lk/columns/The-federalist-fantasy-Tamil-political-tragedy-Lankan-political-history/4-792193)
I would like to add another episode from Sri Lanka’s political history, one that has received absolutely no attention in studies of the conflict. This account is drawn directly from the Hansard reports of 1947, that is, even before Ceylon became an independent nation.
On 26 November 1947, during one of the earliest sessions of the State Council under the Soulbury constitution, the newly elected member for Kankesanthurai, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, raised the idea of secession in his remarks. He stated that the Tamils of Jaffna had the right to secede from Ceylon and suggested that, if they wished, such a move could even take place with India’s support.
