Just one working day left for the commencement of the TESO conference convened by the DMK chief Mr. M. Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu, the Eezham Tamil political leaders of the TNA and TNPF were yet to be given with visa by the Indian High Commission in Colombo, news sources in the island said. Mr. Sampanthan and Mr. Maavai Senadhiraja told news sources that the DMK chief had personally talked to them over the phone in extending invitation and they had agreed to go. However, sources close to them said that besides not getting the visa, the TNA leaders are heavily pressurized to stay away. TNPF leaders said that they would go if the visa comes. Mr. Mano Ganeshan cancelled the visit after not getting the visa. Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne’s visa was rejected, but he was later told to resubmit the passport. Visa is yet to be decided for him.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, New Delhi’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came out with an inflammatory letter, addressed to the TESO organizers on the issue of visa approval for foreign participants.
The Indian MEA wanted the word “Eelam” to be dropped from the conference title for saying no objection to conduct the international conference with foreign participants.
The conference title is: “Eelam Tamil Rights Protection Conference.”
Eezham Tamil is a historical and cultural identity of a people, who speak Tamil in the island of Eezham.
Those who take decisions in New Delhi, including its South Indian clan, are surprisingly paranoid of the word Eezham that actually stands for the entire island and also has a cognate in Sinhala, called Hela, commented Tamil civil activists in the island.
Objective written evidence in the form of inscriptions for the usage of Eezham identity is much older than the word India or Hindustan and for that matter, even older than any inscriptional usage of the word Bharat, the civil activists pointed out.
What is the difference in the genocidal attitude between Colombo that removes an anthem in Tamil in the island and New Delhi in complicity that wants to remove the identity Eezham, asked the activists.
As a matter of democratic disobedience and protest against New Delhi’s attitude, and mischief of sections of media, the TESO participants should loudly use the identity Eezham Tamil in their deliberations, the civil activists in the island requested.
The matter has to be raised in the Indian parliament, in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly and even in the Karnataka State Assembly, addressed to the Foreign Minister of the New Delhi establishment that who authorised the desecration of the identity of a foreign people, the Eezham Tamil civil activists further requested.
In the meantime, the diaspora Tamils should raise the matter with New Delhi’s missions abroad in appropriate ways. At least after seeing the fascist and genocidal attitude of New Delhi the Eezham Tamil diaspora should realise the importance of being sensitive of its identity and the deletion of the word Sri Lanka from its diction, the activists commented.
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