Invite to Rajapaksa upsets TN leaders

A press statement issued by Rajapaksa said, ‘I have extended an invitation to the chief minister of the Northern Provincial Council Justice CV Wigneswaran to join the ceremony at which the oath of office to India’s Prime Minister-designate Mr Narendra Modi will be administered.’ Political experts feel that Rajapaksa’s diplomatic stand to invite Wigneswaran could be seen as an attempt to convince India that all communities including Tamils were given equal attention in Sri Lanka. 

Meanwhile in Delhi, MDMK chief Vaiko met Modi on Friday in the presence of BJP leaders Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley and opposed the invitation extended to Rajapaksa. ‘Rajapksa is the butcher of Tamils. Mr Modi should reconsider the decision to invite him,’ Vaiko said after his meeting with Modi. He hinted that he was given no assurance to cancel his invitation. ‘We want Tamils’ interests should be protected and such invitation could have been avoided,’ he said.

Vaiko also met BJP president Rajnath Singh and demanded that the party should consider their demand. He claimed no Sri Lankan heads were invited during the swearing-in-ceremonies of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. Meanwhile, leaders of DMK and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) too joined hands in the protest against inviting Rajapaksa. ‘The invitation to Rajapaksa should be reconsidered,’ party founder S Ramadoss said in a press statement. Corroborating the same, DMK president M Karunanidhi said, ‘The initiative taken by the new government is not acceptable and unwelcome by the Tamils all over the world.’