Sushma Swaraj slams Centre on fishermen's issue

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today accused the Centre of remaining "indifferent" to the problem of fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Gujarat who are affected by attacks from the Sri Lankan and Pakistan Navy.
She alleged that the Centre did not take any step to provide them security and fish in the sea.
"If BJP comes to power, it will get all Indian fishermen detained in Sri Lanka released, though it is not possible to bring back the dead fishermen," she said, taking part in 'kadal thamarai porattam' (Sea Lotus demonstration), organised by the BJP state unit.
Describing the Manmohan Singh government as a "deaf government", the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also claimed that she spoke directly to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi about the fishermen's problem. "But she did not listen to her complaints nor took any action.."

She said fishermen's problems were being raised repeatedly in Parliament in each session. But the central government was indifferent to the problem, she alleged.
The Prime Ministers of both the countries should talk about the fishermen's as well as Tamils' problems and resolve them. She said the Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa had assured her that Indian fishermen would not be attacked.

"But he did not keep his word."
Seeking the support of the fishermen for the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections, she said the fishermen community would get all benefits if the BJP was elected.
Swaraj said BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would visit Chennai on February 8 and would speak in detail as to what he would do for the fishermen community's welfare.

The present government was a corrupt one with a long list of corruption including Coalgate and 2G, she said.
The symbol of the congress party was "hand", and the congressmen keep that "hand" in their pockets, she quipped.
Thousands of fishermen and their family members participated in the demonstration and aired their grievances to the BJP leader.
Earlier talking to newsmen at Madurai, the BJP leader claimed she could see "Modi Wave" in Tamil Nadu also.
She said BJP was holding talks with various parties in the state including DMDK, MDMK and PMK for a tie-up in the Lok Sabha polls.

When a reporter said "There is no Modi wave" in the state, she said "That is your assessment. It is wrong to say there is no Modi wave. I don't want discuss it now.