The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) on Monday quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) blaming the Centre for “being insensitive” and “betraying the interests” of the people of Tamil Nadu and of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
An eight page resolution passed at the party’s various high level committees squarely blamed the Narendra Modi-led Central government on several accounts in dealing with the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
Mr. Modi’s wishes to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the forthcoming presidential elections in the island nation topped the list of accusations. “It was contrary to and deviated from the foreign policy followed by India post-independence,” the resolution charged, detailing the agitations organised by the party whenever Mr. Rajapaksa visited India.
The Centre had also ignored the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution seeking economic sanctions against Sri Lanka and holding a referendum on the formation of 'Eelam', an independent Tamil nation. The news that India would support Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2015 was another shocker, the resolution said.
Imposing Sanskrit, a long-dead language spoken by a few thousand, in schools was with an evil intention, the resolution said, taking a dig at the dangerous trend of Hindutva policies surfacing from the BJP camp.
'Livelihood issues of Tamils'
The Centre had betrayed Tamil Nadu by granting permission for a survey for a new dam across Periyar river near the Mullaperiyar dam site, the resolution said.
This despite the Supreme Court verdicts allowing Tamil Nadu to raise water level up to 14 feet, the resolution said pointing out the Centre’s “indifferent” approach in Cauvery basin where Karnataka and Kerala plan to construct new reservoirs.
While the Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed several resolutions demanding the retrieval of Katchatheevu, the Centre’s submission before the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court that Katchatheevu agreements was a closed chapter and India has no rights over it was another betrayal, especially when the Supreme Court was hearing the issue, it said.
Alleging that the release of five fishermen was a "drama" enacted by the BJP and Sri Lankan governments, the resolution charged the Centre of stage-managing the episode to strengthen ties with Sri Lanka.
To top it all, the Modi-led Centre showed no trace of the (friendly) approach followed by the Vajpayee-led Centre towards allies, the MDMK said in the resolution explaining the decision to quit the NDA.
