Rejecting a plea by the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government to drop his plans to protest during the visit of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa to Sanchi, MDMK leader Vaiko said that his party’s protest would be held as planned on September 21.
Addressing the party’s state conference at Karur on Saturday, Vaiko said he received a letter from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan that his government could not desist from welcoming Rajapaksa and requested him to abandon the protest.
Chauhan’s letter to Vaiko, which was in response to a letter written by the MDMK chief to him with an appeal to withdraw the invitation to Rajapaksa, stated that the event was completely apolitical and was organised to promote peace and harmony among Asian countries. Rajapaksa was invited to lay the foundation stone for an International Buddhist University at Sanchi in the presence of dignitaries from Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Mongolia and Nepal, the letter mentioned.
Vaiko said he could not accede to the Chief Minister’s request and asserted that the protest would be held as planned in a peaceful democratic manner. His party would not tolerate the visit of Rajapaksa, who committed a genocide of the island Tamils, he said.
The MDMK leader said he had planned to write a series of articles on what happened during the final days of the Sri Lankan military offensive against the Tigers. He said his party would strive to mobilise international opinion for a referendum on independent Tamil Eelam.
Vowing to realise the ideals of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, he said his party would work to achieve the Tiger leader’s objective of an independent Tamil Eelam. He said the Kerala had allocated `50 crore for breaking the Mullaiperiyar Dam and constructing a new dam in its place. “If Kerala succeeded in breaking the dam, people of TN should fight united and stop sending essential commodities like rice, dal, vegetables, meat and milk to that state,” he said.
Comments
0 comment