‘Inclusive’? At Modi swearing-in, Rajapaksa invites Tamil dominated Northern chief

Mumbai: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who will be one of the world leaders to attend Narendra Modi's swearing-in on Monday, to a step forward to reconciliation in his own country for calming down Indian Tamil parties over his visit. He has invited the Chief Minister of Tamil-dominated Northern Provinces, CV Wigneswaran, to join his delegation to India.

Wigneswaran is still to confirm his participation, but Sri Lankan officials said they are "hopeful."

Wigneswaran confirmed that he had received a message from President Rajapaksa to join him to attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony, adding that he would consult the northern provincial council on Rajapaksa's invitation.

However, Modi's invitation to Sri Lankan President has upset regional parties in Tamil Nadu, including BJP's ally MDMK.

MDMK chief Vaiko met BJP President Rajnath Singh and demanded that the party should "avoid" the presence of Rajapaksa at the swearing-in ceremony.

Vaiko, who wrote a letter to Modi on Thursday, expressing his sadness about the invitation being extended to Rajapaksa, said he had requested Singh to take up the issue with the Prime Minister-designate.

"I have requested him to take up this request to Narendra Modi to avoid the presence of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the swearing-in ceremony," the MDMK leader told reporters after meeting Singh.

Recalling that no Sri Lankan Head of State was invited when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister, Vaiko pointed out that even Manmohan Singh had not invited the Sri Lankan President for his swearing in ceremony.

"They did not dare to invite Mahinda Rajapaksa to the swearing in ceremony in 2004 and 2009," he added.

Reacting to suggestions that SAARC leaders were invited as part of the mission to improve diplomatic ties, Vaiko wondered what was the requirement for 'diplomatic necessity' when hundreds of thousands of Tamils were "murdered in the island nation".

"In Geneva, at the Human Rights Council, most of the countries adopted a resolution moved by US and UK seeking an independent international investigation against the Sri Lankan Government for the crimes of genocide," he stated.

However, Vaiko refused to reply to queries on whether he would be boycotting the swearing-in ceremony in the event of Rajapaksa participating.

"I am waiting what decision Narendra Modi will take," he said.

Simultaneously, DMK president M Karunanidhi said Modi's invitation to Rajapaksa for his swearing-in was "not acceptable and unwelcome" by Tamils all over the world and urged the BJP leader to drop the initiative.

"The Centre should deeply ponder over whether a person who had killed lakhs of Tamils, indulged in ethnic cleansing and someone who had waged a war against his own people should participate in the swearing-in of Narendra Modi and request them to drop the initiative," he said in a statement on Friday.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu, including DMK and AIADMK have charged that the maximum number of civilian casualties of Tamils occurred in the last leg of war between the Sri Lankan Army and rebel LTTE with Rajapaksa at the helm of affairs.

Karunanidhi, whose DMK had parted ways with ally Congress last year over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, said the latter did not heed repeated pleas of people of Tamil Nadu, besides international Tamil groups, against treating Sri Lanka as a friendly nation.

"Everyone is aware" of the results of this, he said in an apparent reference to Congress' drubbing in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls where it fared very badly contesting the elections without an ally.

"I want the new BJP government to realise the truth about pro-Tamil feelings at the initial stage itself," the DMK patriarch, who besides his son M K Stalin had greeted Modi and his party for its victory in the elections, said.

Taking a dig at arch rival and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's statement opposing Rajapaksa' participation in the May 26 swearing-in of Modi, he recalled that she had earlier demanded extradition of slain LTTE chief V Prabakaran and had even passed a resolution in the state Assembly, and called it as an 'anti-Tamil' move.