The issue of ethnic Tamils in the neigbouring island nation has cast its shadow on the swearing-in of Narendra Modi.
MDMK chief Vaiko, an NDA ally, on Friday protested the invitation extended to the Sri lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, for the swearing-in ceremony and asked the Prime Minister-designate and BJP president Rajnath Singh to reconsider the decision.While DMK chief M Karunanidhi has termed the invite as “unacceptable”, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa too has expressed her opposition.
Vaiko met Modi here in the presence of BJP leaders Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley. According to him, senior leader Arun Jaitley said the concerns of Tamils is a national issue.“Rajapksa is the butcher of Tamils. Modi should reconsider the decision to invite him (for the swearing-in ceremony on May 26),” Vaiko told reporters after meeting Modi.
Reacting to suggestions that SAARC leaders were invited as part of the mission to improve ties, Vaiko wondered what was the “diplomatic necessity when hundreds of thousands of Tamils were murdered” in Sri lanka.
He had written a letter to Modi on this issue on Thursday, expressing “his sadness” over the invitation being extended to Rajapaksa for the event.Vaiko gave a new twist to the issue alleging that it was the Congress which wanted Rajapaksa to come to Delhi.“The Congress wants Rajapaksa to come to India so that they could blame the BJP for the plight of Tamils....the BJP leaders from Tamil Nadu are also very upset with the decision of Modi,” he said and urged the BJP to ensure that the Tamils’ interests are protected.
Earlier in the day, he met BJP president Rajnath Singh and demanded that the party should “avoid” the presence of Rajapaksa at Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.
Vaiko said he had requested Singh to take up the issue with the Prime Minister-designate.Recalling that no Sri lankan Head of State was invited when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister, Vaiko pointed out that even Manmohan Singh had not invited the Sri lankan President for his swearing in ceremony.“They did not dare to invite Mahinda Rajapaksa to the swearing-in ceremony in 2004 and 2009,” he added.