Don’t allow Rajapaksa to step into India: VCK chief

The proposed visit by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India is creating ripples in Tamil Nadu, with Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a constituent of United Progressive Alliance, registering its protest against the tour.

Briefing newspersons on the sidelines of a conference on reservation in private sector organised in Chennai on Sunday, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said the Sri Lankan President should not be allowed into the country (India), as he had allegedly committed genocide against the Tamils in the neighbouring nation.

“I will be meeting the Prime Minister or Minister of External Affairs in this connection, in a couple of days,” the Chidambaram MP said.

Asked about the stand of the Centre that Sri Lanka is a friendly nation, he said, claiming that Sri Lanka is friendly itself is an insult.

“The island nation is having cordial relations with China and Pakistan. However, India’s friendly gesture towards Sri Lanka remains unreciprocated,” he added.

To a question on whether he would make a collective representation with the Prime Minister in company of other Parliamentarians from Tamil Nadu, Thirumavalavan replied that no decision has been taken in this regard.

Answering another question on a section of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees fleeing from India, he urged the Government to improve the facilities for the refugees in the country and provide identity cards for them.

It may be recalled that Rajapaksa is likely to visit India later this month, primarily to lay the foundation stone of a Centre for Buddhist Studies in Madhya Pradesh’s Sanchi, home to some of the vital and finest Buddhist monuments.