A Sri Lankan delegation led by its Speaker Mr Chamal Rajapakse who were seated in the special box of the Lok Sabha was heckled by the AIADMK members in the lower house even as speaker Meira Kumar welcomed them.

Later Ms Kumar conveyed her ‘sincere apologies’ to the delegation over the incident.

Even as members of other political parties thumped their desks to welcome the Lankan team, nine AIADMK members led by floor leader M. Thambidurai shouted “shame, shame” as the speaker read out a message welcoming the guests.

CPI’s Tenkasi member P. Lingam also tried to join the protest by rushing into the well of the house but was restrained by his party comrade Gurudas Das Gupta.

Meira Kumar reprimanded the AIADMK members telling them to sit down as the Lankan delegation had come “at our invitation and you must honour and res-pect them”.

Parties upset with Lankan reception

All the major political parties in Tamil Nadu, barring of course the Congress, have slammed the Indian government for being “insensitive to Tamil sentiments by rolling out the red carpet every other month” to official delegations from Sri Lanka despite the large-scale Tamil civilian deaths in the final phase of the Eelam war.

While the AIADMK MPs in the Lok Sabha shouted ‘shame, shame’ when Speaker Ms Meira Kumar welcomed her Sri Lankan counterpart Chamal Raja-pakse and his MPs team, DMK’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Tiruchy Siva walked out of a meeting convened by chairman Hamid Ansari with the Lankan delegation after reading out a protest statement, wherein he accused the Sinhala rulers in the island nation of systematically decimating the Tamil population “employing military force ruthlessly in the name of tackling civil war”.

“I stage a walkout from this meeting as a mark of protest for it is practically not possible to be friendly with a delegation representing a government which is out and out hostile towards Tamil population in Sri Lanka”, Mr Siva said.

PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss was scathing in his criticism of the welcome accorded to the Lankan delegation. Recalling that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had to cut short his UK visit after the British leaders refused to meet him and the Oxford University declined permission to participate in a function following the protests by British Tamils, he regretted that his brother and Lankan Speaker Chamal was welcomed in the Indian Parliament along with his delegation. “This hurts the sentiments of seven crore Tamil people in our state”, the PMK chief said. MDMK leader Vaiko too expressed similar sentiments.

VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan said the Chamal visit demonstrated yet again that Delhi did not care for Tamil sentiments. Referring to the recent trip to Colombo by Nirupama Rao to have breakfast with
President Rajapaksa just before demitting office as foreign secretary, he said it seemed that she was “rewarded with the post of Indian ambassador in US only because of her anti-Tamil actions”.

Meanwhile, a press release from the Lok Sabha secretariat said Speaker Meira Kumar had “expressed anguish and offered sincere apologies” to Mr Chamal Rajapakse and team for the
slogan-shouting by the AIADMK MPs in the House.

During her conversation with the delegation, she hoped that the comprehensive engagement between the two nations would improve the social and economic life of the people and help in finding a dignified solution to the pressing problem of internally displaced persons of Sri Lanka, the release said.