Jaya raises eyebrows over supply of two naval warships to Sri Lanka
12 Sep 2013 11:50 PM GMT
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday expressed shock over New Delhi’s proposal to supply two naval warships to Sri Lanka, saying any move to supply military hardware would be the ‘most telling statement on the insensitivity of the government of India to the strong sentiments in Tamil Nadu’ on the Lankan Tamils issue.
Given the strength of the public sentiment in the state, she was ‘quite sure’ that the UPA Government would not supply any military hardware to Sri Lanka, particularly naval warships which she said could be potentially deployed against Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar.
‘However, I was shocked to see media reports today in which the Union minister of state in the prime minister’s office (V Narayanasamy) confirms that the Government of India is in the process of supplying two naval warships to Sri Lanka,’ she said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
She said while Narayanasamy appears to have indicated that he would communicate to Singh the emotions and feelings amongst people and political parties in the state against any such move, ‘what amazes me is that the Government of India could even contemplate such a move.’
‘Any move to supply military hardware to Sri Lanka would be the most telling statement on the insensitivity of Government of India to the strong sentiment in Tamil Nadu,’ she said.
Given the strength of the public sentiment in the state, she was ‘quite sure’ that the UPA Government would not supply any military hardware to Sri Lanka, particularly naval warships which she said could be potentially deployed against Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar.
‘However, I was shocked to see media reports today in which the Union minister of state in the prime minister’s office (V Narayanasamy) confirms that the Government of India is in the process of supplying two naval warships to Sri Lanka,’ she said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
She said while Narayanasamy appears to have indicated that he would communicate to Singh the emotions and feelings amongst people and political parties in the state against any such move, ‘what amazes me is that the Government of India could even contemplate such a move.’
‘Any move to supply military hardware to Sri Lanka would be the most telling statement on the insensitivity of Government of India to the strong sentiment in Tamil Nadu,’ she said.
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