An Unfolding Betrayal: India’s Strategic Missteps in Sri Lanka and the Erasure of the Eelam Tamils

The systematic marginalisation and near-eradication of the Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka, alongside the concurrent transformation of the island into a strategic foothold for China and Pakistan, cannot be attributed solely to the actions of the Sri Lankan government. Rather, this outcome is the result of a more complex and troubling dynamic: the passive complicity, occasional detachment, and at times misguided policies of senior Indian officials serving at the High Commission in Colombo. It is plausible that history will regard these individuals not as guardians of regional peace, but as contributors to India’s strategic decline in the region.

Some of these officials may, in due course, acknowledge their shortcomings, much like former Ambassador J.N. Dixit, who confessed to underestimating the severity of the Tamil crisis during his tenure in Sri Lanka. From 1987 through to the anticipated crossroads of 2035, India’s diplomatic presence in Colombo risks being remembered less for fostering reconciliation or regional cohesion, and more for overseeing a period in which the Eelam Tamil community was driven perilously close to extinction.

Within the global Eelam Tamil diaspora, there is a growing conviction that these diplomatic actors were insufficiently committed to supporting the legitimate aspirations of a sovereign Tamil Eelam. Instead, their actions inadvertently, or at times deliberately, emboldened the Sinhala-majoritarian government to implement policies that have facilitated cultural and demographic erasure. Such conduct, characterised by short-term strategic thinking and a concerning absence of philosophical clarity, reveals a significant deficit in ethical political vision and regional responsibility.

Moreover, certain diaspora organisations—while professing allegiance to India—have lent support to strategic partnerships with the Sri Lankan government, including initiatives like the proposed ‘bridge of friendship’. These endeavours, far from advancing Tamil political aspirations, undermine both the prospects for Tamil self-determination and India’s long-term strategic interests in South Asia. Such symbolic gestures, though couched in rhetoric of harmony and cooperation, fail to acknowledge the island’s militarised, foreign-aligned reality, which is increasingly at odds with Indian regional security.

The irony is stark. Over a century ago, the renowned Tamil poet Bharathiyar envisioned a symbolic bridge linking India and Sri Lanka—a poetic expression of cultural affinity and kinship. Yet today, as Sri Lanka remains dominated by Sinhala-Buddhist militarisation and deepening Chinese-Pakistani influence, invoking such idealistic imagery obscures the harsh political realities on the ground. The inability of many in South Asia to distinguish romanticism from pragmatic geopolitics has left a critical void in regional strategy.

It must be unequivocally stated: the names of those Indian officials who facilitated this betrayal, along with the leaders of diaspora groups that prolonged Sri Lanka’s diplomatic cover under the pretense of Indian alignment, will not be remembered as patriots or peacebuilders. Instead, they will be recorded in history—as judged by the Eelam Tamil people, future historians, and the Indian nation itself—as those who compromised India’s strategic future.

In a weakened, culturally fragmented India of the future, classrooms may be taught in Mandarin, Chinese-Sinhala geopolitical victories lauded, and culinary fusions consumed as symbols of cultural subjugation. As nationalism fades and sovereignty erodes, only a handful of Indian patriots may remain to lament a fallen civilisation that failed to heed early warnings.

We do not merely predict the future — we are the very force that defines it. Not you. ‘We’ is political philosophy—not as a sterile academic discipline, but as the living conscience of history. Through political philosophy, justice is demanded, betrayal recorded, and truth preserved. Temporary holders of power may forget this, but it is we—the thinkers, the challengers, the guardians of ethical governance—who ultimately shape the course of history.

© Balananthini Balasubramaniam | Small Drops

United Kingdom | 26 May 2025 | 10:45 AM

All Rights Reserved.

(Disclaimer: Images are AI generated and are used for representational purposes only)

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