The BJP here on Monday termed the Indian special envoy’s visit to Sri Lanka to assess the progress of rehabilitation of Tamils living in refugee camps as a mere eyewash.
Flaying Home Minister P Chidambaram for claiming that the initiative was taken at the behest of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s effort, BJP State president Pon. Radhakrishnan said the decision to send a special envoy was taken when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Alleging that the special envoy was sent only following a request from Sri Lanka, he said, “The visit of special envoy was to boost the image of Rajapaksa in the international fora.”.
“If the government is really serious, then the special envoy should bring to light the plight of refugees in camps and how they have endured the monsoon, the situation outside the camp, whether they have access to their land or is it given to Sinhala settlers,” he added.
“With threat from China in the north, the Chinese presence in the south is strategically dangerous for the nation’s security,” he felt. He also slammed the state government as well as the Centre for not doing enough to protect the rights of the fishermen who were being shot at or their nets damaged by the Sri Lankan navy.
Criticising the State government for the increase in power tariff, the BJP leader said that while the government maintained that 1.15 crore consumers would not be affected it had conveniently failed to mention that 1.17 consumers would be hit by the steep hike.
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