Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday slammed the Centre for pussyfooting the Sri Lankan Tamil issue and getting intimidated by the tiny neighbour.
“It is regrettable that instead of acting like a tiger, the mighty Indian Government is behaving like a mouse before the tiny Sri Lankan Government”, she said in a strongly worded statement here.
Recalling that the stiff opposition from her and the Tamil people had forced the IAF to shift the eight Sri Lankan Air Force from its Tambaram base to Bengaluru, chief minister said, “I once again insist that the Sri Lankan personnel be sent back immediately”.
She has been consistently faulting Delhi for mishandling of the Lankan Tamil issue while accusing DMK chief M Karunanidhi of failing the island Tamils despite being a key constituent of the UPA ruling at the Centre.
“If Karunanidhi, who claims to be the leader of Tamils, has any real concern for the welfare of Tamils, he should have pressurised the Central government to send back the Sri Lankan airmen immediately,” she said.
But then, it was no surprise that Karunanidhi “who possesses the skill of coercing the Centre whenever he or his family members are affected” did not pressure Delhi for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils, chief minister said.
She said when reporters asked him to comment on IAF shifting the Lankan airmen to Bengaluru instead of packing them off to their island, Karunanidhi sidestepped the issue and said he would respond if such a thing happened.
His conduct in this issue reminded her how he had first announced at a public rally in Madurai to protest against the Centre on the Mullaiperiyar Dam issue, only to reduce it to an attack on Kerala government “and finally ended up giving up even that”, she said.