Sri Lanka’s 3-language plan is a good start

Sri Lanka has asked for Indian help to implement a trilingual formula to overcome the political and ethnic divide between the majority Sinhalas and minority Tamils. It may be flattering for India to be called for help, but our  implementation of the three-language formula has not been a resounding success. The south is getting familiar with Hindi not due to the formula, but because Bollywood blockbusters and the job markets have pushed students to learn Hindi. On the other hand, the Hindi-speaking majority has made few efforts to learn a new language — though the recent success of Rajinikanth-starrer Robot suggests that the markets are moving to unify cultures even when politicians are doing the opposite.

But the Lankan master policy aims higher than the Indian formula. It requires the minority Tamils to learn Sinhala, and the Sinhalas to learn Tamil. English continues to be the link language. A resolution of the ethnic conflict, however, needs more than a language formula. Sri Lanka needs to become a federation. An inflexible unitary state will not help it bring alienated Tamils into the mainstream.