The Vaddukoddai Resolution was adopted on May 14, 1976, in Pannakam, near Vaddukoddai, Northern Province,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It called for the creation of an independent

Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam (, ''tamiḻ īḻam''; generally rendered outside Tamil-speaking areas as தமிழ் ஈழம்) is a proposed independence, independent sovereign state, state that many Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lan ...

by the Tamil United Liberation Front under the leadership of S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. It was a major event in the modern history of Sri Lanka, as it was the first time the demand for a separate state for the

Sri Lankan Tamils Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province, form the pluralit ...

was made; Tamils had previously only demanded devolution or power sharing under a federal system. TULF contested the 1977 Sri Lankan parliamentary election on its demand for

and won an overwhelming mandate in the Tamil areas, becoming the main opposition party in Sri Lanka, the only time a minority party has done so. It gave impetus to Tamil nationalists, who claimed it was a democratic endorsement of a separate state.

Background

The adoption of the 1972 Sri Lankan Constitution made Sri Lanka a unitary state with Sinhala being the sole official language and Buddhism becoming the state religion. The Federal Party led by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam wanted a Federal state with Tamil being an official language. Prior to this point, ethnic tensions between the Sinhala and Tamil residents of the island had been growing due to events like the passage of the Ceylon Citizenship Act, which stripped all Indian Tamils of the island of their citizenship, the passage of the Sinhala Only Act which made Sinhala the only official language of the country, as well as two pogroms in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

and 1958. Earlier accords signed including Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact and the Dudley-Chelvanayakam pact aimed at compromises were not implemented by the Sri Lankan Government.

Aftermath

The Tamil United Liberation Front demand for

led the Sri Lankan Government to pass the 6th Amendment, which made it mandatory for all members of parliament to take an oath for the unitary state of Sri Lanka. The Tamil United Liberation Front resigned and refused to take the oath at a time when Tamil militancy was on the rise. Tamil Separatists led by the LTTE took over leadership of the Tamils during the course of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

References

External links

Vaddukoddai Resolution
{{Sri Lankan Tamil people 1976 documents 1976 in Sri Lanka Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war Sri Lankan Tamil history Sri Lankan Tamil politics Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism