Friendly relations with Sri Lanka are of strategic importance, and the new government at the Centre should ensure continuity in the foreign policy, along the lines taken by the UPA government, in the interests of Tamils, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B.S. Gnanadesikan said on Thursday.
At a press conference here, he said the Congress had no difference of opinion over the need for equal political rights to Sri Lankan Tamils, implementation of the 13 Amendment or a credible probe into the war crimes (in the final phase of the civil war in 2009). At the same time, it must be remembered that to achieve all this, a dialogue with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was essential. “Sri Lanka is a neighbour and part of the SAARC, and maintaining friendly relations [with it] will augur well for India,” he said.
On MDMK general secretary Vaiko’s opposition to Mr. Rajapaksa’s visit to India to take part in the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, Mr. Gnanadesikan said it was well known that a few parties in the State approached the Sri Lankan Tamils issue emotionally. When the Congress was in power at the head of the UPA, they showed black flags when Mr. Rajapaksa’s aircraft was flying in the Indian airspace. “Now, a party wants a day’s time and the leader of another party is making fervent appeals,” he quipped, without naming the PMK and the MDMK, both allies of the BJP.
