The basic principle underlying India’s refugee policy is to view the problem strictly in a bilateral perspective. The refugees should return to their homeland once the situation becomes normal there. Dealing specifically with the Tibetan refugees Jawaharlal Nehru declared that India’s policy on the subject was governed by three factors: 1) India’s desire to maintain friendly relations with China 2) Protection of the security and territorial integrity of India and 3) India’s deep sympathy for the people of Tibet.
According to media reports, the government of India has decided to confer Indian citizenship on Bangladeshi Hindus who, unable to bear discrimination, have taken shelter in India. It is reliably learnt that Hindus from Pakistan who have come to India and Sikhs from Afghanistan will also be conferred Indian citizenship. The decision has been hailed by all sections of Indian society, who consider this timely change in refugee policy as a good example of prime minister Narendra Modi stretching his hand of friendship to people of Indian origin in neighbouring countries, who are in dire need of Indian support.
There is one section of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who also require New Delhi’s sympathetic understanding and support. These are 29,500 hill country Tamil refugees (who are also known as Indian Tamils); they are an integral part of 65,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who live in 107 camps scattered throughout Tamil Nadu. All of them are Hindus and they have come to India as refugees because they found it difficult to live among the Sinhalese population. They are a part of the Indian diaspora, and this fact distinguishes them from Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. The Sri Lankan Tamils do not call themselves as people of Indian origin; they consider themselves as of Tamil origin. Nor do their representatives participate in the deliberations of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
The Indian Tamils are the descendants of labourers taken to Ceylon under the protective umbrella of the British government to develop the tea plantations in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was their sweat and toil which converted the malaria-infested forests of Sri Lanka into smiling tea plantations, which sustain the Sri Lankan economy even today. Though they were taken to Ceylon on the understanding that as British subjects they will enjoy the same rights as Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils, soon after independence they were rendered stateless.
The problems of stateless people vitiated India-Ceylon ties for many years. In his desire to mend fences with Ceylon, prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri entered into an agreement with Sirimavo Bandaranaike in October 1964. This was followed by another agreement in 1974. As a result of these two agreements India decided to confer citizenship on 6,00,000 (plus their natural increase) whereas Colombo agreed to confer citizenship on 4,00,000 (plus their natural increase) on the ratio of 7:4. It must be highlighted that these agreements were signed without taking the views of the affected people. Their undisputed leader S Thondaman was not permitted to come to India to make representation. It is an illustration of people of Indian origin being converted into merchandise to be divided between two countries in the name of good neighbourly relations. As a result the Indian Tamil population registered a sharp decline; from 11.4 per cent (more than Sri Lankan Tamils) at the time of Independence, the community today number only 5.5 per cent of the population.
The repatriates who came to India as Indian citizens had to undergo considerable suffering. But they overcame these hurdles and have today become an integral part of society. There had been upward mobility among them and majority of them lead better lives than their counterparts in Sri Lanka.
The hill country Tamils share common bonds of ethnicity and language with the Sri Lankan Tamils, but the problems that they faced and the aspirations they entertained were, in many ways, different from those of the Lankan Tamils. Unlike the Sri Lankan Tamil settlements in the Jaffna peninsula, the hill country Tamils were surrounded by Sinhalese settlements, which are located in the heartland of the Sinhalese people. This stark reality made them realise that they must coexist with the Sinhalese population. Therefore, they never supported the demand for a separate state nor the path of armed struggle. But even then they were subjected to savage and vicious attacks by lumpen sections of the Sinhalese population in 1977, 1981 and 1983. Following the genocide in July 1983, Sellasamy, then vice-president of Ceylon Workers Congress, came to India and made a pathetic appeal that every Tamil village should adopt a family from the hill country so that they can live in safety and dignity in their motherland.
The author had the opportunity to interact with hill country Tamil refugees living in the Kottapattu camp in Tiruchy. They have sold all their belongings and came to India as refugees to start their lives anew. They do not have any stakes in Sri Lanka. What is more, certain welcome changes have taken place in their lives. Their children are educated; some of them have got decent jobs. Through inter-marriages they have assimilated into Indian society. And, what is more, they are unanimous, come what may, they do not want to return to Sri Lanka.
What stands in the way of their getting citizenship is a government circular which states that Sri Lankan refugees are not entitled for Indian citizenship. It may be recalled that when the Constitution of India was being drafted, Dr. Ambedkar was very keen that citizenship should go strictly by domicile. Amb Y D Gundevia, who was Indian ambassador in Burma, took up the case of people of Indian origin and, as a result, Article 8 was incorporated under which people of Indian origin could register themselves as Indian citizens in Indian embassies. The hill country Tamils wanted to make Sri Lanka their permanent home; they wanted to take deep roots as the tea bushes they planted; but their hopes were shattered due to discrimination and savage violence. They had no other option but to come to India as refugees. They hope India will not let them down. New Delhi should immediately make an exception in the case of hill country refugees and enact necessary laws which will enable them to become proud citizens of India.