Dubbing as "unfortunate" the Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi's invite to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his May 26 swearing-in, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said the "ill-advised" move could have been avoided as it amounted to "rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured Tamil psyche."
The All India Dravida Munetra Kazhagam supremo, who expressed dismay over reports that the Sri Lankan President had been invited and that he had accepted it, said it would have been better if this move had been avoided.
While the sentiments of Tamils living in India and elsewhere towards the Sri Lankan Tamils were known, a change of regime at the Centre "in no way alters the already existing strained relations between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka", she said in a statement here.
Jayalalithaa recalled the various resolutions passed in the state assembly demanding an economic embargo on Sri Lanka among others over the alleged war crimes by the island nation's Army under the Rajapaksa government against Tamils there during the final stages of "civil war".
While the United Progressive Alliance government "chose to ignore" the resolutions by not acting on them, there was a hope that the new regime would be sympathetic to the Sri Lankan Tamil cause, she added.
However, even before the new government assumed office, this "unfortunate move" of inviting Rajapaksa "has deeply upset the people of Tamil Nadu and wounded their sentiments all over again. This is tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured Tamil psyche," she claimed.
"It is with a deep sense of anguish that we point this out to the new government to be formed at the Centre. Particularly, with regard to the relationship of the new Central Government with the government of Tamil Nadu, it would have been better if this ill advised move had been avoided," she added.
