Will summon Sri Lankan High Commissioner: Sushma Swaraj

“We will certainly summon the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka and convey this to him,” she said.

August 4, 2014

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said the government will summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner over a derogatory article mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

“The government has strongly condemned the development,” Sushma Swaraj said in the Rajya Sabha.

“We will certainly summon the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka and convey this to him,” the minister said.

This came after the upper house saw disruptions over the issue, losing its Question Hour.

The upper house saw two adjournments during the Question Hour as AIADMK members trooped near the Chairman’s podium raising the issue.

An objectionable article about Jayalalithaa and Modi was published on the Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry website last week, and was taken down in a hurry.

Sri Lanka also offered an “unqualified apology” for the article.