Sri lankan players will not be a part of the Indian Premier league matches to be played at Chennai as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday refused to host them in view of the prevailing anti-Sinhalese sentiments in the State.
Jayalalithaa wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making it clear that IPl matches would be permitted in the State only if there were no Sri lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff involved.
A few hours later, the IPl Governing Council met to discuss the issue and decided that Sri lankan players will not participate in IPl league matches in Chennai. The Governing Council will advise the nine IPl franchises accordingly.
“The IPl Governing Council met this afternoon to discuss the issue. The security of all people involved in the IPl, whether they are players, spectators or those working in the stadia is of paramount importance to the BCCI. The Governing Council decided that Sri lankan players will not participate in the Pepsi IPl 2013 league matches in Chennai and will advise the nine franchises accordingly,” IPl Chairman Rajiv Shukla said in statement.
Altogether 13 Sri lankan players are taking part in the sixth edition of the league which will start from April 3.
“The Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that the IPl matches involving Sri lankan players, umpires and other officials should not be played in Tamil Nadu. The BCCI may be advised by the Government of India to prevail upon the organizers not to allow Sri lankan players, officials, umpires and supporting staff to take part in the tournament. The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPl matches to be held in Tamil Nadu only if the organizers provide an undertaking that no Sri lankan players, umpires, officials or supporting staff would participate in these matches,” Jayalalithaa said in her letter, excerpts of which were released to the media on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister said the decision not to allow teams with Sri lankan players to play in Tamil Nadu was due to the surcharged atmosphere, with a groundswell of popular public opinion against the Sri lankan Government for its continued cruelties against the Tamils in the island nation.
“The civil strife in Sri lanka is a lamentable saga of an ethnic pogrom launched by the Sri lankan Government using the lankan Army against Tamils which resulted in the commission of genocide against a defenseless civilian Tamil population and the decimation of thousands of innocent women and children,” Jayalalithaa said in the letter.
She said all political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly voiced “grave concern” regarding these issues.
“Tamil Nadu witnessed mass agitations, hunger strikes, self immolations and large scale spontaneous involvement of many sections of society including students, protesting the Sri lankan action against Tamils. In such a hostile and tense environment we apprehend that the participation of Sri lankan players in the IPl tournament with many games to be played at Chennai will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people,” she said.
While declaring an apartheid regime on Sri lanka (Jayalalithaa had called off the Asian Track and Field Championship which Chennai was to host in August 2013 because of the participation of Sri lanka and also banned football teams from the island nation from setting foot in Tamil Nadu), she has managed to turn the tables on Karunanidhi.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, an IPl Team owned by Kalanidhi Maran, grandnephew of the DMK chief has roped in Sri lankan players after paying exorbitant amounts.
Chennai Super Kings owned by N Srinivasan, the BCCI boss as well as a close associate of Karunanidhi, too has Sri lankan players in the line-up. The dreams of Maran and Srinivasan will go awry if their teams are not allowed to field Sri lankan players in Chennai.
What people in Chennai are watching with curiosity is whether Jayalalithaa would ban flights to and from Sri lanka operating from airports in Tamil Nadu. Spice Jet, the airliner, too is owned by the Marans.