This chapter presents a condensation of the findings and the argumentation set out in the previous chapters. It was established in the first chapter, the ways in which this study contributes to the existing literature, namely, by breaking out of the straitjacket of analysing issues solely in relation to Indo–Lanka relations and by bringing in configurations within Sri Lanka, as they explain and contribute to the subject. This study spans the period from 1948 to 1988. This period is the time frame within which the Tamils of Indian origin lost their rights to citizenship in Sri Lanka and were subsequently repatriated by the thousands, until 1988 when the remaining stateless persons were acknowledged and granted citizenship.

The main idea has been to place repatriation within the context of economic, political and ideological development within Sri Lanka. In this context, the course of inquiry also extended into questioning the paradoxical situation in which the urgency with which the laws and agreements were introduced was in contrast to their implementation, which at best was slow and belated.

In order to satisfactorily answer the main question, five subsidiary questions were derived from issues that dominated the status and the very presence of the Indians in Sri Lanka. One was by inquiring whether economic pressure and the need to remove surplus labor from the estates satisfactorily explained the denial of civil status and the expulsion of Tamils of Indian origin from the estates.