He knew that carrying out the threat would not be easy. While still in the government's honeymoon period, he changed the constitution and became the Executive President, reducing the role of parliament and the cabinet. As a die-hard cynic he knew political honeymoons do not last long in Sri Lanka, and wanted something to keep the people preoccupied. He found this in a war he declared on Tamils. His elitist brain may have relied on ruthless violence similar to that which his ancestors used to carry out on behalf of kings, to vanquish all local opponents.
Cruelty is in the heritage of the caste-elite in the country.
The Tamil conflict was turned into a war. Jayarwadene did not calculate that an opposition could rise from the Tamils proportionate to his ruthlessness and perhaps would surpass him. In the South, thousands were massacred as a result of Jayawardene's manoeuvers to close the electoral map. In the North too, deaths were many. These deaths gave rise to a vengeance that Jayawardene could not even imagine.