Introduction

The concepts of “compulsory repatriation” and “statelessness” are introduced and discussed in this chapter as they occurred in the context of the 1954 agreement. In 1954, an agreement deciding the fate of those who were disenfranchised was concluded between India and Sri Lanka. The agreement failed to be implemented. But most significantly, the agreement was about shifts in focus by both India and Sri Lanka. This chapter addresses the reasons the Sri Lankan government shifted from the position held by the former Prime Minister, D. S. Senanayake, which was one of keeping the Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka as a disenfranchised community, to one where the government actively sought to repatriate them.

This chapter addresses the compulsions that caused India to shift to repatriation as an option, whereas Nehru had stood steadfastly by his view that the Indian labor should be accepted as citizens of Sri Lanka. This decision was to significantly change the course of future negotiations. In Sri Lanka, it also made “statelessness” – a concept that had not been part of the Sri Lankan vocabulary – a common word as India refused to accept all those who had been denied Sri Lankan citizenship.