Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami condemned the demolition of Mullivaikkal memorial at Jaffna University on Friday night.
In a couple of tweets posted on his Twitter account on Saturday, Mr. Palaniswami expressed shock at the demolition of the memorial.
“It is extremely shocking that the structure raised in memory of the students of the university and the citizens who were brutally killed in Mullivaikkal in the final stages of the war, has been demolished in the middle of the night,” he said.
Mr. Palaniswami said he strongly condemned this act of the Sri Lankan government and the Vice-Chancellor of the University who was hand in-glove with them. Condemning the incident, DMK president M.K. Stalin said, “Many ancient and traditional buildings and structures of Tamils have already been destroyed. The demolition of the Mullivaikkal memorial is the continuation of the trend in Sri Lanka.”
Appeal to PM
He said the incident had taken place soon after the visit of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Sri Lanka.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should strongly condemn the incident,” he said.
In a statement MDMK general secretary Vaiko announced that his partymen and supporters of Sri Lankan Tamil cause would picket the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission office in Chennai on January 11.
“The Sri Lankan government that killed thousands of Tamils wants to eradicate any symbol that will remind people of its atrocities. That is why the Army personnel entered the campus in the night and demolished the memorial,” he alleged.
‘Dictatorial action’
In a series of tweets, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary T.T.V Dhinakaran said the destruction of symbols would not erase the memories of people about the ethnic conflict.
The rulers in Sri Lanka should realise that instead of conceptualising plans for the uplift of Tamils, indulging in this type of “dictatorial action” would create undesirable consequences.
