The State conference of the DMK, which concluded here on Sunday, asked the Union Government to move a resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council(UNHRC) meeting asking for a referendum among the Sri lankan Tamils to elicit their views on a political resolution acceptable to them to resolve the ethnic issue in the island nation.
The DMK also wanted the UPA Government headed by the Congress to introduce a resolution in the March 2014 UNHRC meeting demanding an international probe under the UN supervision into the alleged war crimes in the last phase of the civil war between the Sri lankan Army and the lTTE in 2009. All other resolutions passed by the State Conference reflected the confused state of mind of the party headed by M Karunanidhi and Anbazhagan (both past 90 years).
The DMK which did not demand even once the inter linking of major Indian rivers when it was an important ally of the UPA Government during 2004 to 2013, on Sunday asked the centre to initiate steps to link the major rivers in the country on war footing. It also demanded the UPA Government to resume and complete the works of the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project, the works of which have been put on hold following directives of the Supreme Court.
The party, which helped the UPA Government to get the Bill on the Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector passed in parliament, made a volt-face on Sunday and demanded the immediate withdrawal of permission for FDI. It also wanted the abolition of death penalties in the country.
Other than these resolutions, the DMK’s State Conference held after a gap of ten years could be termed a damp squib. leaders like TR Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, Kanimozhi, who spoke on Sunday too continued showering encomiums on Karunanidhi and his second son Stalin, the chosen heir.
The speech by Dayanaidhi Maran, Karunanidhi’s grand nephew and former Union Communications Minister who had to quit the Union Government following serious allegations, evoked laughter as he criticised Jayalalithaa for misrule and corruption. Other than Jayalalithaa bashing, the DMK leaders did not have anything to place before the country or even the party members.
Though the DMK leaders did not make known their plan for aligning with the Congress or the DMDK of Vijayakanth, the demands for resolution in UNHRC meeting are seen as indications to the Congress that the party was still open for an alliance, without which it stands to face yet another rout by the AIADMK.