22 December 2019 11:26 am
TRICHY: BJP state secretary K T Raghavan has accused DMK of trying to spoil the future of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees by insisting on citizenship for them in India. At a demonstration organized by his party in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), held near central bus stand on Friday, Raghavan said DMK president M K Stalin was hand in glove with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.
“Rajapakse has come back to power now. If Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are given citizenship as demanded by DMK, the remaining Tamils in Sri Lanka will also be chased away to India. Sri Lanka will become a complete Buddhist land. We should understand the conspiracy and sabotage it,” he said. Raghavan also said that DMK was in power when 1.5 lakh Sri Lankan Tamils were killed in the final stages of the war. “The Congress government had supported the Lankan government in the war. Despite being an ally, DMK had not done anything to stop the killings. So, they need not shed tears for them now,” he said.
Those raising the pitch for citizenship for Srilankan Tamils must interact with the refugees in the camp to know their views. “Sri Lankan refugees prefer to go home and resume their life there and BJP government is working on the resettlement of the refugees in their own country for which our government constructed 50,000 houses there and is in touch with the Sri Lankan government,” he said.
He also recalled that Paravathi Ammal, mother of slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran, was denied entry to Tamil Nadu for medical treatment during the DMK regime. On the allegation of Muslims being victimized by the CAA, Raghavan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept the promise made by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru in the Nehru-Liyakath Ali Khan pact to protect persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The three nations declared themselves Muslim countries. There is no chance of religious persecution against Muslims there. Hence, there is nothing wrong in it (CAA),” he said.(TNN)