Annamalai wants Tamil Nadu to hand over Sri Lankan aid package to Centre

BJP leader urges the State government not to insist on delivering the aid directly to the neighbouring country

State BJP president K. Annamalai on Sunday said he hoped the government of Tamil Nadu would hand over the aid package to Sri Lanka to the Ministry of External Affairs to ensure smooth passage to Sri Lanka without insisting on delivering it directly, “politicising the standard protocols”.

In a statement he said the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly urging the Union government to positively consider the request of the State government to immediately send food, essential commodities and life-saving medicines to the people of Sri Lanka, did not have the information about what India had already provided to Sri Lanka and was continuing to provide to the neighbouring nation.

Mr. Annamalai claimed that some of the recent actions of the Tamil Nadu government, especially during “Operation Ganga” (to bring back Indian students from Ukraine) were only aimed at scoring political mileage. “We are only afraid that this resolution shouldn’t turn out to be one such exercise. It is noteworthy that during “Operation Ganga”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured that every Indian awaiting rescue returned to our homeland,” he said.

In 2009, when the Civil War in Sri Lanka was at its peak, the UPA government at the Centre and the DMK government in the State watched a grave humanitarian crisis unfold, Mr. Annamalai said. Despite being in power and a position of command, they put no effort into rescuing the Tamil people from the war zone. 

“Our concern is that this resolution passed recently should not be another record 2-hour-fast type situation orchestrated [by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi] to create a mirage that the DMK worked hard for the ceasefire during the Civil War,” he said.

Mr. Annamalai said Mr. Modi had promised all help Sri Lanka needed to sail through the crisis would be provided. Listing out the help being given by India, he said in January, India had provided financial assistance to Sri Lanka that included a currency swap of US$400 million and deferment of Asian Clearing Union payments of US$515 million, and again of US$ 498.9 million, a $500 million line of credit to purchase petroleum products in February, 40,000 tonnes of rice under a $1 billion credit facility, 11,000 mt of rice ahead of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, $500 billion short term loan in February, 100 tonnes of nano nitrogen liquid fertilisers in November 2021, vegetables and daily ration items and 760 kg of 107 types of life-saving medicines in April this year.

He said the Central government had followed the “Neighbourhood-first policy” to cement bonds with its neighbours and was ready to walk that extra mile to help Sri Lanka out of the current crisis, well before the resolution in the Tamil Nadu assembly was passed.