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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 11, 2019

themselves in comparison to the privileged reference group within the same society. Both
individual-centered and group-centered relative deprivation existed among the Tamil youth.

However, group-centered relative deprivation played the most prominent role. Lower caste
Tamil youth had to suffer “double deprivation.” Various forms of relative deprivation-based
grievances existed among Tamil youth in the 1970s and these compulsions acted strongly to

steer them along the militant path.

Keywords: Caste, Relative deprivation, Sinhala majoritarianism, Tamil youth

Introduction

During the early post-independence period the leadership of Tamil political groups
was comprised of high caste (Vellalah) Tamils, who mostly hailed from Jaffna. They

mainly adopted non-violent and democratic methods to fight for Tamil rights .
3
However, beginning from the mid-1970s, a group of Tamil youth of the Jaffna

peninsula in Sri Lanka started political agitations in an effort to win certain rights

and benefits from the government. Many studies have examined the background and
contributory causes that were behind the Sri Lankan Tamil militant movement of the

1970s. For example, some studies by Roberts (2009), Little (1994), Bond (1988)

have observed there is a connection between Sinhala Buddhist nationalism and the
emergence of the Sri Lankan conflict. Similarly, some scholars have categorized the

Sri Lankan conflict as a religion based or language predicated conflict (De Silva,
1988, a, b; Devotta, 2007; Obeysekara, 1984). Some researchers have identified

“Tamil nationalism” as a powerful cause that motivated the Tamil youth (Wilson,
1994, 1998, 2000; Gunasingham, 1999). A number of recent studies (for example,

Abeyratne, 2002; Perera, 2001; Tambiah, 1986; Shanmugaratnam & Stokke, 2004;

Stokke & Ryntveit, 2000) on the Tamil youth insurrection have explored the
underlying causes of the violent conflict and suggest that it was due to the presence

3 However, even before the 1970s some violent incidents occurred in Jaffna. In the 1950s and 1960s
there were violent protests against certain policies of Sri Lankan governments. But those incidents
were not significant when compared with the violent activities of the 1970s and 1980s in the
peninsula.
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