BY
S VENKAT NARAYAN
NEW DELHI, December 1: Tamil Nadu opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) President Muthuvel Karunanidhi and MDMK General Secretary Vaiko have slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wishing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa success in the January 8 presidential election.
In Chennai, Karunanidhi criticised Modi for wishing Rajapaksa success in the presidential elections. “Rajapaksa is an accused in ethnic cleansing and his involvement is discussed even at the UN. Other political parties also have condemned his involvement. Supporting him to occupy the presidency once again is like giving prominence to the portrait of a person convicted in a corruption case,” he said.
Vaiko has intensified his tirade against Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership for their open support to Rajapaksa. Vaiko’s miniscule party is an electoral ally of the BJP.
Speaking to reporters at Nagercoil on Sunday, Vaiko condemned the Prime Minister for his speech favouring Rajapaksa’s re-election as President for a third term while speaking at the SAARC summit in Kathmandu on November 26.
“By doing so, Modi has exceeded his diplomatic limits,” Vaiko said. Even former Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh, VP Singh, HD Deve Gowda and Chandrasekar had never made such remarks, he pointed out.
Quoting BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy’s demand that Rajapaksa be honoured with India’s highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna, Vaiko quipped that the BJP leaders could demand the award for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse posthumously.
Regarding BJP national secretary H Raja’s threat to him, Vaiko said he had warned the MDMK cadre against indulging in any protest. If anybody acted against this warning, action will be taken.
Vaiko said that he had criticised Congress leaders, Janata Party leaders and former Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, but it was never
on personal lines. On no occasion did political parties, including the Congress, the DMK and the AIADMK, threaten him. Ridiculing Dr Swamy’s statement that the MDMK cadre should be arrested before they laid a siege to Raja’s residence in Karaikudi, otherwise he will get the bail granted to AIADMK supremo Jayaram Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case cancelled, Vaiko said: “I do not understand the connection between the MDMK protest and Ms Jayalalithaa’s bail. It amounts to blackmailing the AIADMK government.”
Meanwhile, reports from Tamil Nadu suggest that the MDMK is likely to reconsider its continuation in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at a meeting of the district secretaries in Chennai on December 8.
The tension between the two parties reached a feverish pitch over the week following the scathing criticism MDMK general secretary Vaiko mounted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policy towards Sri Lanka at a public meeting in Nagercoil.
Vaiko was then asked by BJP leader H Raja to uphold “alliance dharma” and not to indulge in criticism of the Modi government. If not, Raja warned, BJP workers know how to put an end to such behaviour.
The pressure built up further after senior BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy, through a tweet, asked the MDMK to read the writing on the wall and leave the alliance on its own. Otherwise, the party will be thrown out, he claimed.
Unfazed, Vaiko charged the BJP with taking orders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and attempting to saffronise the country’s education system.
Dismissing the comments of Dr Swamy and Raja as a “publicity stunt,” he wanted to know whether the head of the BJP is Amit Shah or Dr Swamy.
The Tamil nationalist groups have also come out in support of Vaiko.
Tamilar Vaazhurimai Kootamaippu convener Panruti T Velmurugan said the BJP leader would face protests if he continued making such remarks.
The strain in the MDMK-BJP ties accentuated even as there was speculation on a new front comprising the Tamil Maanila Congress of GK Vasan, the MDMK, the DMDK and the VCK. But sources in the DMDK said any such plan had to wait for the party leader Vijayakant to return to India.
“We will take stock of the alliance at the meeting of district secretaries. But the mood in the party is not very positive about the BJP after Raja’s remarks,” an MDMK leader said.
Courtesy:The Island