| |
| 1969, Dec |
| |
| Widespread student unrest and an effort to open a “free” university in Colombo. The universities were closed after a general student strike. | 1 |
| |
| 1970, May 28 |
| |
| Resignation of Premier Senanayake, following a setback in the elections. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike formed a new coalition government. | 2 |
| |
| 1971, April |
| |
| A leftist insurrection led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, or People's Liberation Front), fueled by disappointment with the new United Front, was suppressed with considerable ruthlessness. | 3 |
| |
| 1972, May |
| |
| Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka. The United Front government introduced a new republican constitution, advancing Sinhalese-Buddhist interests and downgrading minority rights. Protections of the use of Tamil guaranteed under the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act, approved in 1966, were undermined. Departing from its policy of religious neutrality, the state became more closely identified with Buddhism. The upper house of the legislature (Senate), which previously had acted as a deterrent to hasty legislation, was abolished. | 4 |
| |
| 1974 |
| |
| Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike negotiated an amicable settlement regarding the status of Indians in Sri Lanka. Nearly half a million Indians eventually were integrated into the Sri Lankan polity as citizens, conferring on them a political legitimacy that, as an ethnic group, they had not enjoyed on the island since 1948. | 5 |
| The government extended control over newspapers, especially the Lake House Group; another group, the Davasa Group, was closed down. | 6 |
| University admission policies were changed to reduce the “overrepresentation” of Tamils in higher education, an act that radicalized Tamil youth. | 7 |
| |
| 1975 |
| |
| Internal disputes over how to nationalize foreign-owned plantations led to expulsion of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) from the government. | 8 |
| Tamils, frustrated by reduced access to employment and higher education, formed a youth movement named Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to carry out an armed struggle that would establish a separate Tamil state in the island's northern and eastern provinces. | 9 |
| |
| 1976 |
| |
| Tamils organized the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). In the Vadukkodai resolution, they proposed to wage a separatist struggle. | 10 |
| |
| Aug |
| |
| A nonaligned nations' conference was held in Colombo. | 11 |
| |
| |
