India and Sri Lanka have always been good neighbors as well as friends. Their approach towards the bilateral problems is thoroughly peaceful. India in the beginning tried to behave like a big brother but soon the Indian leadership realized that this fact would unnecessarily created bad blood between the two countries. The Indo- Sri Lankan problem of the Tamil emigrants over the years has consumed a lot of time and energy of the leaders of both the countries. But the efforts did bear fruit, resulting in signing a number of agreements to solve this ticklish problem. It has been partly solved and both the governments are keen to remove this irritant. The minority problem is closely related with the Indo- Sri Lankan issue. The nature of the problem has automatically involved the Government of India in it because of the Tamils living in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Government of Tamil Nadu has raised a hue and cry when large scale clashes were reported between Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. It is an established fact that the Government of India has always considered the issue as an internal affair of Sri Lanka and did not try to indulge in it. The Indian leadership has shown her concern from time to time whenever the situation took a grave turn. As far as India-Sri Lanka relations are concerned, given its disparate power equation with Sri Lanka, coupled with the propensity of the Sinhalese to suffer from the small power complex and the "Tamil" factor in bilateral relations, particularly during 1983-84, Sri Lanka will continue with the greater alacrity for the maximisation of its external options to diversify its linkages with the extra regional powers. Sri Lanka will continue to harp on the issue of its autonomy, sovereignty and integrity vis-a-vis India as and when so impelled.