BJP vows to take up Eezham Tamils plight in Indian Parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 July 2011, 07:10 GMT]
Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari who met a top delegation of the British Tamils Forum (BTF) last weekend in London, has said that the BJP was very serious on taking up the ‘Sri Lanka issue’ in the Indian Lok-Sabha. BTF leaders V Ravi Kumar and S. Pathmanathan, who led the BTF delegation to the meeting with the visiting Indian politicians, expressed hope that the BJP would be consulting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa on the plight of Eezham Tamils and that the Indian leaders would also be meeting the Tamil representatives from the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The BJP is yet to adopt a stand on the accountability issue on the question of Eezham Tamils and the genocide committed on them.

Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia and BJP women’s wing president Smriti Irani accompanied Mr. Gadkari on a 6 day trip to UK. The top-level BJP delegation addressed the first political convention organised by the Overseas Friends of the BJP in the UK.

Stating that the atrocities brought to light by the hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary “Sri Lanka's Killing Fields,” televised recently in India by Headlines Today and the debate that followed have brought broader attention among the Indian populations on the burning Tamil issue, the BJP leaders told the BTF delegation that their party was keen to discuss the plight of Eezham Tamils with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari [right] discussing with BTF leader Ravi Kumar

Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia [right] discussing with S. Pathmanathan of the BTF

Mr. Ravi Kumar, a key leader of the BTF, said that his organisation and other diaspora formations were engaging with a cross section of Indian political parties and movements, seeking Indian support for international investigations and an Indian Foreign Policy that recognises the genocide committed on Eezham Tamils since the so-called independence of Ceylon, during the war and during the post-Mu'l'livaaykkaal scenario.

Mr. Pathmanathan of the humanitarian advocacy team of the BTF, in a statement issued on Wednesday said that the lack of understanding of the true situation and the political reality of Sri Lanka is the primary reason for the level of apathy in India on Eezham Tamils plight.

The BJP leaders also attended the Telangana Cultural Festival in London expressing their support for the demand for a separate Telangana state.

Stating that Congress government in India was delaying the implementation of the recommendations made by the Justice Srikrishna Commission on Telangana, the BJP president said that his party was in favour of smaller states and that it would support the formation of Telegana state when the question is seriously taken up for a resolution in the Lok Sabha.