Chauhan asks “best friend” Vaiko to call off protest

September 21, 2012 01:55 am | Updated November 16, 2021 09:43 pm IST - Bhopal:

MDMK leader Vaiko and his party workers sit in dharna at Badhchicholivillage in Madhya Pradesh near the Maharashtra border on Thursday toprotest against the scheduled Sanchi visit of Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa.

MDMK leader Vaiko and his party workers sit in dharna at Badhchicholivillage in Madhya Pradesh near the Maharashtra border on Thursday toprotest against the scheduled Sanchi visit of Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa.

It was an ironical scenario in Bhopal as a President accused of genocide arrived here on Thursday to inaugurate a ceremony on world peace. Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Bhopal on Thursday evening, even as MDMK general secretary Vaiko, who has accused Mr. Rajapaksa of genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils, continued to wait on the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border after he was denied entry into the State.

Mr. Rajapaksa, along with Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley, is scheduled to lay the foundation of the Buddhist and Indic Studies University in Sanchi on Friday. Mr. Vaiko has vowed to stage a black flag protest before Mr. Rajapaksa on Friday, but the Madhya Pradesh government has strictly ruled out any such demonstration, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan terming the event “an opportunity for world peace and not for politics.”

Mr. Rajapaksa’s visit has evoked strong reactions from Tamil rights groups. Mr. Vaiko, along with his convoy comprising 21 buses, medical vans and several cars, tried to enter Madhya Pradesh from Nagpur on Wednesday, but was stopped by the State police at Chhindwara.

“Since then, they have been sitting on the National Highway-69. They want to go Sanchi and stage a black flag protest but we have orders to stop them,” Chiindwara SP Purushottam Sharma told The Hindu . “He will be addressing the press here tomorrow [on Friday] morning and then decide on what he wants to do next,” said Mr. Sharma. The police detained some MDMK supporters near Sanchi and sent them to Bhopal.

Also, the Bhopal police have made tight security arrangements in order to prevent the protesters from reaching the venue in Sanchi.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chauhan repeated his appeal to Mr. Vaiko to call off his protest. “Sri Vaiko mere param mitra hain [Mr. Vaiko is my best friend]. We have worked together under the NDA government,” he told journalists at his residence on Thursday. “We don’t want to arrest him. I have requested him once again to call of his protest as this ceremony is about world peace and not about politics,” he said.

Asked why a peaceful protest was being repressed in his State, Mr. Chauhan said there was no question of repressing the protest. “We sent him flowers on his arrival to Madhya Pradesh. Is that repression,” he asked.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.