‘There is no God-given law that an island shall support just a single state, as examples round the world, both happy and unhappy demonstrate: Borneo, New Guinea, Tierra del Fuego, Ireland. If the island of Sri Lanka is to remain a single democratic state, the rights of its minorities will have to be restored and entrenched.”
But Cabinet Minister Gamini Dissanayake who was also President of the UNP controlled Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union with a membership among plantation Tamils saw the situation in a different light. He put it bluntly to his Tamil members and without ceremony in a widely reported speech on 5 September 1983:
”Who attacked you? Sinhalese. Who protected you? Sinhalese. It is we who can attack and protect you. They are bringing an army from India. It will take 14 hours to come from India. In 14 minutes, the blood of every Tamil in the country can be sacrificed to the land by us. It is not written on anyone’s forehead that he is an Indian or a Jaffna Tamil, a Batticaloa Tamil or upcountry Tamil, Hindu Tamil or Christian Tamil. All are Tamils.” .