Jaya terms invitation to Rajapaksa 'unfortunate'

This is tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured Tamil psyche: Jaya

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa expressed her disagreement in inviting the President of Sri Lanka to the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister on May 26.

In a statement today, AIADMK chief termed the move to invite Mahinda Rajapaksa as “unfortunate”.

“We hoped the new government at the Centre would be sympathetic to the cause of Tamils and friendly to Tamil Nadu. However, even before the new Prime Minister and the new government assumed office and begin functioning, this unfortunate move has deeply upset the people of Tamil Nadu and wounded their sentiments all over again. This is tantamount to rubbing salt to the wounds of the people of Tamil Nadu,” said Jayalalithaa, whose party won  37 seats of the 39 seats in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

She added, it would have been better if the ill-advised move of inviting Rajapaksa had been avoided, particularly with regard to the relationship of the new government at the Centre with the state government.

Tamil Nadu in the past, has passed various resolutions  in its Legislative Assembly against the war crimes, ethnic pogrom and genocide perpetrated against the Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army under the Rajapaksa government in the final stages of civil war. The state government even demanded an economic embargo on Sri Lanka and urged the Centre to take lead in bringing a UN resolution for trying the war-accused in the International Court of Justice.