<P> Great Britain, which had come to control the whole of the island in 1815, instituted a legislative council in 1833 with three Europeans and one each for Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Burghers . This council's primary requirement was to play an advisory role to the Governor . These positions eventually came to be elected . From the introduction of the advisory council to the Donoughmore Commission in 1931 until the Soulbury Commission in 1947, the main dispute between the Sinhalese and Tamils elites was over the question of representation and not on the structure of the government . The issue of power sharing was used by the nationalists of both communities to create an escalating inter-ethnic rivalry which has continually gained momentum ever since . </P> <P> There was initially little tension amongst Sri Lanka's two largest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, when Ponnambalam Arunachalam, a Tamil, was appointed representative of the Sinhalese as well the Tamils in the national legislative council . However, the British Governor William Manning actively encouraged the concept of "communal representation" and created the Colombo seat which alternated between the Tamils and the Sinhalese . Subsequently, the Donoughmore Commission strongly rejected communal representation, and brought in universal franchise . The decision was strongly opposed by the Tamil political leadership, who realized that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament, according to the proportion of the population they make up . G.G. Ponnambalam, a leader of the Tamil community, proposed to the Soulbury Commission that there should be 50 - 50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese, 50% for all other ethnic groups, including Tamils) in the proposed independent Ceylon--a proposal that was rejected . The Second World War served as an interregnum where the adroit politics of D.S. Senanayake successfully balancing the polarising tendencies of the Sinhala as well as Tamil nationalists . Following independence in 1948, G.G. Ponnambalam and the party he founded, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (Tamil Congress), joined D.S. Senanayake's moderate, Western - oriented, United National Party Government . This Government pass the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, which denied citizenship to Sri Lankans of Indian origin and resulted in Sri Lanka becoming a majoritanian state . Sri Lanka's government represented only the majority community, the Sinhalese community, and had marginalized the minorities, causing a "severe degree of alienation" among the minority communities . When this Act was passed, the Tamil Congress was strongly criticized by the opposition Marxist groups and the newly formed Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist Federal Party (FP). S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, the leader of this new party, contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, and then in the Privy council in England, on grounds of discrimination towards minorities, but he did not prevail in overturning it . The FP took two seats in the 1952 election, against the Tamil Congress' four, but in the 1956 election it became the dominant party in the Tamil districts and remained so for two decades . The FP's came to be known for its uncompromising stand on Tamil rights . In response to the parliamentary act that made Sinhala the sole official language in 1956, Federal MPs staged a non violent sit in (satyagraha) protest, but it was broken up by a nationalist mob . The police and other state authorities present at the location failed to take action to stop the violence . The FP was cast as scapegoats and were briefly banned after the 1958 riots in which many were killed and thousands of Tamils forced to flee their homes . </P> <P> Another point of conflict between the communities was state sponsored colonization schemes that had the effect of changing the demographic balance in the Eastern province in favor of majority Sinhalese that the Tamil nationalists considered to be their traditional homeland . It has been perhaps the most immediate cause of inter-communal violence . </P> <P> In the 1970s importing Tamil - language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from the cultural hub of Tamil Nadu, India was banned . Sri Lanka also banned local groups affiliated with groups such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Tamil Youth League . Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education was stopped . Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London were abolished . This had the effect of culturally cutting off the links between Tamil Sri Lankans and Tamils from India . The then government insisted that these measures were part of a general program of economic self - sufficiency as part of its socialist agenda and not targeted against the Tamil minority . </P>

Why did sri lankan tamils feel alienated from sinhalese