{"id":77293,"date":"2022-05-01T00:45:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T04:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77293"},"modified":"2022-05-01T23:06:23","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T03:06:23","slug":"how-and-why-the-dmk-chief-minister-of-tamil-nadu-m-k-stalin-took-the-initiative-in-sending-humanitarian-aid-to-sri-lanka-in-general-and-the-islands-tamil-people-in-particular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77293","title":{"rendered":"How and Why the DMK Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin took the Initiative in Sending Humanitarian Aid to Sri Lanka in General and the Island\u2019s Tamil People in Particular"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n
\nBy Arun Janardhanan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tamil Nadu Assembly\u2019s move to pass a resolution Friday urging the Centre to allow the state Government to send humanitarian aid to the people of Sri Lanka came in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central Government not responding to its similar requests made earlier. The resolution was brought by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Government in the midst of its escalating tussle with Governor R.N. Navi over various issues.<\/p>\n

\"\"

MK Stalin<\/p><\/div>\n

After moving the resolution, which was passed unanimously by the House with the support of all parties including the BJP, Chief Minister (CM) and DMK President M.K. Stalin again wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to issue necessary directions to the Ministry of External Affairs to process and facilitate the early movement of essential relief items, such as food and medicines, that the Tamil Nadu Government has proposed to send to the neighbouring country, which has been reeling under an unprecedented economic crisis.<\/p>\n

The state Government\u2019s initial plan is to send 40,000 tonnes of rice worth INR 800 million, 137 types of life-saving medicines valued at INR 280 million, and 500 tonnes of milk powder worth INR 150 million to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A month ago, during his visit to New Delhi, CM Stalin had met PM Modi and requested him to permit the state Government to send humanitarian aid to Sri Lankans, pointing out that many of them were fleeing the island country and coming to the state through the sea route. Stalin had also written a letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to follow up on the request. However, so far, the Government of India has not responded to the state Government\u2019s pleas.<\/p>\n

With the question being raised in Tamil Nadu why the Centre has remained indifferent to its urgings despite a staggering crisis gripping the neighbouring country, a retired political science professor of University of Madras, Ramu Manivannan, the author of Sri Lanka: Hiding the Elephant \u2013 a book which documents war crimes and atrocities committed during the last leg of Lanka\u2019s war against LTTE rebels in 2009 \u2013 said there could be no reason for the Indian Government to delay this decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cNeither does the Tamil Nadu\u2019s gesture to help Sri Lanka set a precedent, as India and states have done it earlier too on many occasions. There were instances of West Bengal asking the Union Government to address and help people when the Bangladesh refugee crisis was playing out. Help is crucial for Sri Lankans. When Sri Lanka has no reason to take a stand against supplies of rice, medicines, and milk powder, the Indian Government should realise that this is a humanitarian crisis and these materials should reach the people immediately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

India had extended similar assistance to Sri Lanka earlier too. Even without the consent of the Lankan Government, in 1987, the then Rajiv Gandhi Government initiated unprecedented steps to send humanitarian aid there after the J.R. Jayawardene Government of the time had imposed an economic blockade on the Tamil-populated Northern Lanka amid a war-like situation. <\/p>\n

Popularly known as \u201cparippu drop\u201d, India had then deployed many aircraft, escorted by fighter jets, to airdrop food packets and provisions over the Jaffna peninsula. A similar mission was repeated in 2008, too, when New Delhi had sent a shipload of relief materials to Colombo meant for people in the Northern provinces.<\/p>\n

A top state bureaucrat said the resolution adopted by the Assembly could also be seen as an \u201cextension of the growing awareness about the state rights\u201d. There was no reply from the Centre, even after the CM had taken up the issue with the PM and had also written to him, which prompted the state Government to push this official resolution through the House, the official said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis strengthens the perception that the Centre is totally indifferent to decisions taken by an elected state government. If at all there is a response finally, they would be like these: either an unconditional \u2018yes\u2019 or \u2018no\u2019. Otherwise, they will urge the state to send the relief materials via the Centre and decide what to send.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u2018Relief for everyone in Sri Lanka, not only Tamils\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Assembly resolution stated that the Stalin Government intends to extend humanitarian aid to all Sri Lankan citizens. When the state Government first made the proposal, it was seen as a bid to help Sri Lankan Tamils alone, which triggered a debate among many Sri Lankans, including Sinhalese, and drew criticism.<\/p>\n

Many Tamils feel that \u201cnobody in Sri Lanka cared when Tamils suffered there\u201d. However, many of them concede that Lanka is currently in the throes of an unprecedented crisis and that \u201chelp should be extended to everyone in that country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Manivannan, however, said the Sri Lankan Government should also understand that help should reach everyone, not only Sinhalese.
\n\u201cI am saying this because there is a precedence to Sinhalese dispensation not extending benefits to Tamils. There is a well-established record of the partisan attitude of the Sri Lankan Government, be it tsunami relief and rehabilitation, or in cases related to the post-war period,\u201d he said, adding that \u201chow the Government conducts itself is more important than people\u2019s conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stalin\u2019s bid to mend fences with Tamil diaspora<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DMK\u2019s track record over the Sri Lankan Tamil cause has always been mixed, with All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) icons like M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalitha considered to have scored better than the former\u2019s stalwart M. Karunanidhi on the issue. <\/p>\n

Moreover, the Tamil diaspora \u2013 Tamils in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world \u2013 have often raked up the charge that late Karunanidhi had neither sacrificed power in Delhi nor did anything to prevent the massacres in Northern Lanka during the last phase of the war, when the DMK was part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre.<\/p>\n

Stalin has now been making bids to ensure a makeover of the DMK\u2019s perceived poor image in this backdrop. Soon after he came to power, the DMK chief announced a welfare package worth INR 3.17 billion to rebuild houses of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in the state. Their education and job opportunities were among the areas for which the DMK Government allocated funds. The Assembly resolution also seems to be part of his efforts to address his party\u2019s \u201clegacy problem\u201d on the issue.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: The Indian Express<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Arun Janardhanan The Tamil Nadu Assembly\u2019s move to pass a resolution Friday urging the Centre to allow the state Government to send humanitarian aid to the people of Sri Lanka came in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central Government not responding to its similar requests made earlier. The resolution was brought …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘How and Why the DMK Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin took the Initiative in Sending Humanitarian Aid to Sri Lanka in General and the Island\u2019s Tamil People in Particular’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77299,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77293\/revisions\/77299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}