1952 Gal Oya Riot

Published: August 21, 2024

August 21 – 25, 1952

Crash and burn

G. Gregory, a Sinhalese lorry driver of the GODB, on August 21, 1952, had sped down a road in Kalmunaikudy when he suddenly collided with a cyclist, a young Muslim trader named Gaffoor. Gaffoor was knocked off his bicycle and died from his injuries soon after. Consequent to the collision, an enraged Muslim crowd gathered at the lorry and assaulted Gregory, resulting in his hospitalization.1

Things took a turn for the worse in the following days as Sinhalese reprisals ensued in the Gal Oya area. Sinhalese mobs burned Muslim houses, carts, and businesses. Sutantiran reported that several Muslim families fled to Kalmunai, or even to the jungles, out of fear.2 One night, a gang of Sinhalese had invaded Natpiddimunai and set fire to Muslim houses. The Muslims tried to extinguish the fire and called the police. A largely Sinhalese police contingent arrived and ended up arresting the Muslims.3

Meanwhile, Muslim mobs had gone on their own rampage. One strewed logs across a road near Kalmunaikudy. When the police arrived and moved the logs, the crowd stoned the police. The police opened fire on the mob, hospitalizing one.4 Another mob of about three thousand marched in procession to Kalmunaikudy before being dispersed by police.5 Later, a man accused of being part of the stoning mob and of assaulting police officers alleged that the police had assaulted and robbed him.6 Sutantiran further reported that Muslims at Sammanturai, fearing that they would be expelled, had tried to drive away Sinhalese, 7 and the Times of Ceylon reported that the trouble was “due to a belief among local inhabitants that they are eventually to be ousted from the Gal Oya valley when the [Gal Oya] scheme gets underway.”8 The IGP, Richard Aluvihare, had later told a group of Muslims at Kalmunai to give no heed to rumour,9 and over a month later, the Muslim minister of social services, M. C. M. Kaleel, promised Muslims that they were being selected for settlement at Gal Oya.10

The riot lasted for no more than three or four days, but it resulted in two conferences in Colombo between the prime minister, Aluvihare, and Eastern Province police. They concluded with a decision that Aluvihare and Kaleel should hold an inquiry about the incidents at Gal Oya.11

Improvement promises

A common complaint of Muslims in the area was that GODB lorry drivers would speed dangerously. Aluvihare pledged to ensure that such behaviour would not continue. 12 A week later, “go slow” warning boards were put on the roads at Kalmunaikudy, and drivers were warned to not speed. However, police units, which had been increased during the riot, would remain for some time.13

Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake also assured MPs of affected electorates that he would investigate complaints and consider compensation for those who suffered damages to property.14 Aluwihare also promised to increase the police forces at Kalmunai and Amparai.15 Another issue with the area that was brought to light was the lack of telephone communication infrastructure between towns in the valley and the Kalmunai police station. Authorities set up a wireless station connected to Batticaloa to communicate until there was an actual telephone link constructed.16

Two months after the riot, a conference held by local councillors and police officers resolved to restrict the issuance of firearms in the Gal Oya-Batticaloa area to prevent riots. The conference determined that the main cause of the riot was the feeling of local Muslims that Sinhalese migrants were marginalizing them. Further, the GODB was ordered to issue a circular to its employees, mostly Sinhalese, instructing them to not get into fights with local Tamils and Muslims.17 Nearer to the end of the year, authorities further decided to strengthen the police force at Kalmunai, along with other Batticaloa District police stations.18

Warnings unheeded

Despite the optimism of the resolutions, Gal Oya was the scene of a more severe riot in June 1956. Kalmunai MP M. S. Kariapper lamented that he had been in touch with the government after the 1952 riot, though his warnings had gone unheeded. He also implied that compensation had not been given to the victims of the 1952 riot, and asked the government to consider their compensation along with the 1956 victims.19 Aluwihare, writing in his administration report for 1952, reported that “communal disharmony between Sinhalese on the one hand and the Muslims and Tamils on the other has been smouldering since the start of the Gal Oya Scheme.” Though he did not specifically refer to the August riot, he noted that there were clashes between the three groups throughout the year, and that there were already two incidents between Sinhalese and Muslims in 1948 and 1950 related to the scheme.20

The police force in the Gal Oya area, despite the pledged increase of officers at Kalmunai, was still said to be woefully small for the sheer size of the valley,21 and it was only after June 1956 that additional stations in the valley were established.22 Moreover, despite the pledge to restrict firearm distribution, in 1956, the junior minister of defence, T. B. Subasinghe, admitted that there “was a great deal of laxity in the issue of gun licenses [in Gal Oya] during the past,” providing Tamil colonists with firearms that some would later use to massacre Sinhalese during the riot.23

Ultimately, this riot demonstrated a deviation from the optimism that typically accompanied official narratives of the Gal Oya scheme. On the one hand, the scheme promised to be the wonder of the country, a restoration of a lost homeland, and a paradise for peasants. On the other hand, the 1952 riot showed that it could be anything but.

Bibliography

Aluvihare, Richard, Administration Report of the Inspector-General of Police for 1952. Colombo: Government Press, Ceylon, 1954.

Pullenayagam, A. B. S. N. Administration Report of the Government Agent, Batticaloa District, for 1956. Colombo: Government Press, Ceylon, 1957.

Endnotes

  1. “Alleged Assault After Accident,” Times of Ceylon, August 22, 1952; “Ceylon Police Stop Riot,” The Sydney Morning Herald, August 25, 1952. Hereafter, “Times of Ceylon” will be abbreviated as “TC.”
  2. “Kalōyāk Kalavaraṅkaḷ Tamiḻaraci Avaciyattai Vaṟpuṟuttukiṉṟaṉa,” [The Gal Oya Riots Necessitate a Tamil Government], Sutantiran, August 31, 1952.
  3. “Kallolāyāt Tiṭṭattiṉ Cuyarūpam Ambalam,” [The True Nature of the Gal Oya Project Exposed] Sutantiran, August 31, 1952.
  4. “Police Fire on Hostile Crowd,” TC, August 28, 1952.
  5. “IGP to Hold Inquiry at Gal Oya,” TC, August 26, 1952.
  6. “Counter Charge Against Police,” TC, September 11, 1962.
  7. “Kallolāyāt Tiṭṭattiṉ Cuyarūpam Ambalam,” [The True Nature of the Gal Oya Project Exposed] Sutantiran, August 31, 1952.
  8. “IGP to Hold Inquiry at Gal Oya,” TC, August 26, 1952.
  9. “Shun Rumour, Says IGP,” TC, August 27, 1952.
  10. “Muslims Not Kept Out,” TC, October 7, 1952.
  11. “IGP to Hold Inquiry at Gal Oya,” TC, August 26, 1952.
  12. “Shun Rumour, Says IGP,” TC, August 27, 1952.
  13. “Peace Returns to Gal Oya,” TC, September 3, 1952.
  14. “Compensation Will Be Considered,” TC, September 10, 1952.
  15. Ibid.
  16. “Police Radio Network Now Far-Flung,” TC, September 24, 1952.
  17. “Gal Oyā Kalavarangaḷait Taṭai Ceyya ‘Putiyamuṟai’,” [‘New Method’ to Prevent Gal Oya Riots] Sutantiran, November 2, 1952.
  18. “Kalmunai to Have More Policemen,” TC, December 30, 1952.
  19. Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, vol. 25, col. 361-363.
  20. Aluvihare, Richard, Administration Report of the Inspector-General of Police for 1952. Colombo: Government Press, Ceylon, 1954. Sutantiran places the number of previous clashes with Sinhalese at three: two involving Muslims and one involving Tamils. “Kallolāyāt Tiṭṭattiṉ Cuyarūpam Ambalam,” [The True Nature of the Gal Oya Project Exposed] Sutantiran, August 31, 1952.
  21. Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, vol. 25, col. 348.
  22. A. B. S. N. Pullenayagam, Administration Report of the Government Agent, Batticaloa District, for 1956. (Colombo: Government Press, Ceylon, 1957), A177.
  23. Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, vol. 25, col. 346.