CHENNAI, Aug 2 (Indian Express) : The entire political spectrum of Tamil Nadu spoke in one voice on Friday, hitting out at the Sri Lankan government for the insensitive portrayal of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Lankan Defence Ministry website.
The response quickly resulted in an ‘unqualified apology’ from the Lankan government. The row erupted over an article on the website on Jayalalithaa’s letters to Modi on the Tamil Nadu fishermen issue by a Sri Lankan journalist who flippantly portrayed the raging matter.
It was, however, the pictorial representation accompanying the piece, which Jayalalithaa described as “highly objectionable”, that sparked the row.
By the time Jayalalithaa had written a strongly-worded letter to Modi, almost every party in Tamil Nadu, including Jayalalithaa’s arch rival DMK, were firmly rallying behind her. The Ministry of External Affairs also said the Centre took up the matter with Lanka with “alacrity”, resulting in its removal from the website.
“The visual rendering on the homepage of the official website just above the link is highly objectionable as it depicted both the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in a very trivialised, derogatory and disrespectful manner,” read Jayalalithaa’s letter to Modi.
“While as a public political figure, I have faced criticism from many sources, this blatant attempt to ridicule untiring efforts to resolve an important livelihood issue of the fishermen of Tamil Nadu is completely unacceptable.
“The added visual image on the website is clearly aimed at denigrating the elected leaders of India and particularly a 66-year-old woman political leader of many years’ standing. These are affronts to India which cannot be ignored or lightly brushed aside,” Jayalalithaa said.
Even as AIADMK MPs raised the issue in Parliament, DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan and Tamil Nadu Congress leaders B S Gnanadesikan and G K Vasan rallied behind Jayalalithaa. The most virulent reactions, however, came from NDA allies, MDMK chief Vaiko and PMK founder S Ramadoss, both of whom are hawkish on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.
While Ramadoss suggested a severance of diplomatic ties if the Lankan government refused to apologise, Vaiko recommended a breaking-off of ties outright. Tamil nationalist outfits announced their intention to picket the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai.
The heat on the matter was, however, somewhat toned down when the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry later pulled down the article and tendered an apology.
“The article which had been published without appropriate authorisation and not reflecting any official position of the Government of Sri Lanka or Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has since been removed. We extend an unqualified apology to the Hon Prime Minister of India and Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,” read the apology message.
“I can confirm to you that as soon as we took up the matter, we drew immediate result and to our entire satisfaction, the offensive article was removed,” Akbaruddin said.
He further added, “If there are further things that we need to do, we will certainly consider them.”
Earlier, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP V Maitreyan said in Rajya Sabha that while the article was written by an individual, “It has been put on the website of the Defence Ministry of Sri Lanka, which is very derogatory to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.”