But, for all his elegant words, S. W. R. D. had never seen the danger. By making Sinhala the official language, the Tamils would become foreigners in their own land. That, of course, is just what the Chauvinists wanted. During the British era, Tamils had held two thirds of civil-service jobs, and yet they made up only fifteen per cent of the population. Now it would be the turn of the Sinhalese. S. W. R. D. did nothing to dampen their expectations, and so, by 1951, the issue had become a rallying point. In a matter of years, Ceylon would divide into ‘them’ and ‘us’.
