BJP to take up Tamils’ plight

by admin
Feb 5, 2011

The President of India’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), Nitin Gadkari, said last week that his party would take up the miseries of Sri Lanka’s Tamils at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR).

The BJP would also raise the issue in India’s Parliament, where it has 165 seats, he told a party event in Tamil Nadu on Saturday January 30.

Arguing that the Sri Lankan Tamils’ plight is not an issue for Tamil Nadu alone, Mr. Gadkari said:

"We always support the demand of Sri Lankan Tamils for getting fundamental rights. They are part of our family."

Saying that India’s former BJP-led government had adopted the “correct approach” towards the Sri Lankan Tamil question, Mr. Gadkari criticized the present Congress-led government, in which Tamil Nadu’s DMK is a partner, for “furthering their selfish interests” in this regard.

The BJP-led NDA coalition governed India from 1998 till 2004, when it lost power to the Congress-led UPA alliance.

Sri Lanka's peace process began with a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement in 2002. Colombo resumed its war against the LTTE in 2006, with the support of India and the United States.

See Indian Express’s reports here and here.

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