AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa yesterday accused Chef Minister M. Karunanidhi of "taking the entire Tamil race for a ride" over the visit of a MPs team to Sri Lanka to study conditions of Internally Displaced Tamils in camps.
Describing the 10 member delegation as a team of "assorted politicians" from parties propping up the "minority government" in Tamil Nadu, she said "Karunanidhi has confessed the truth and the delegation is not an all-party one. It was never intended to be. That is why opposition parties were not invited to join it."
The visit of the delegation,comprising MPs from DMK and its allies, Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, has been embroiled in a controversy over omission of opposition MPs.
Karunanidhi, who had defended the visit, saying it was not sponsored by the Centre and expenses were borne by the parties themselves. The delegation is now in Sri Lanka.
Jayalalithaa in a statement said, "the outcome of the visit can well be conjectured. They will be taken on a guided tour of specific Tamil areas where the oppression of the Sri Lankan government is apparently minimal.'
On return, the delegation was likely to say there is a huge problem in the hands of Sri Lankan government, which was earnestly trying to resettle nearly four lakh persons and that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse had given a solemn assurance he would do his best in the least possible time, Jayalalithaa said.
"With this exercise, Karunanidhi hoped to take the entire Tamil race for a ride. But what would happen to the half century old fight of Sri Lankan Tamils for self determination? What will happen to notorious 'Sinhala only' policy?', she asked.
The visit of the Indian MPs' delegation from Tamil Nadu to the brimming refugee camps of northern Sri Lanka was a broad stroke of political and diplomatic symbolism, said the 'Hindustan Times'.
The visit was aimed at reassuring vote banks in TN that the situation of the 2.4 lakh displaced Tamils was being monitored; India did not intervene to save the isolated and cornered LTTE but it would not step back from safeguarding the rights of the Tamil community, HT said.
It was the first time that such a high-profile Indian political delegation, including M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and former union minister TR Baalu visited Sri Lanka. They were allowed to go where Sri Lankan MPs can’t. Ironically the opposition MPs in Sri Lanka, including the TNA which represent the same people in parliament are not allowed to visit the camps.
The Hindustan Times article opined that allowing the India MPs to visit refugee camps could be interpreted as the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime’s way of telling India that Sri Lanka understands the political sensitivities of a giant neighbor.
But the delegation’s four-day visit ended up hurting sensitivities as well. Not the least hurt was civil servant PSM Charles who ended up howling after a brief interaction with a high-handed Baalu. An uncivil Baalu apparently used harsh language and ordered her not to interfere while touring the refugee camp. Kanimozhi had to step in to comfort the sobbing woman.
The delegation was kept away from the media in Colombo; the Lankan authorities said the Indian High Commission wanted it that way while diplomatic sources said the MPs only pretended to be willing to interact but in reality wanted to stay away from the media.
The delegation’s visit to the East was cancelled after the Indian MPs did not agree to the particular political chaperon that the Lankan authorities had designated as the eastern region tour guide.
In the end, Congress MP Aaron Rashid, was quoted by Daily Mirror, as saying that the refugees ``did not seem to have been suffering as the media in India had painted.’’ But the final word will only be out after the return flight lands in Chennai.
