Halt the violence

The unseemly one-upmanship that Tamil Nadu’s parties and politicians have long engaged in on the Sri Lankan issue has assumed alarming proportions again with mobs unleashing violence on Sri Lankan pilgrims and others visiting the state.

Scores of Lankan pilgrims on their way to Velankanni shrine were repeatedly hit with sticks and stones by mobs protesting their visit to Tamil Nadu.

Understandably, the Sri Lankan government has issued a travel advisory warning its nationals against visiting India. The Centre has issued a statement assuring visiting Lankans of safety, but on the ground the attacks have continued.

It is evident that the Tamil Nadu government is complicit in the violence. Not only has it failed to condemn the attacks but also, it has not acted to prevent violence. In fact it was the Jayalalitha government that set the current anti-Sri Lankan mood by objecting some weeks ago to Sri Lankan defence officials being trained in Tamil Nadu. It forced the Central government to transfer these personnel out of the state almost overnight.

Last week, it ratcheted up tensions when it sent back two Sri Lankan football teams. That these were students who were visiting Tamil Nadu to play friendly matches as a means of improving bilateral goodwill was completely missed by the chief minister, who not only ordered them out of the state but also punished the official who had permitted a match to be played.

With the sole exception of the CPM, all other Tamil Nadu parties have watched the violence without condemning it or contributed to the unpleasant atmosphere in the state by stepping up the hate rhetoric. Responsible parties do not engage in goondaism. The ongoing targeting of Sri Lankans is ostensibly aimed at expressing solidarity with the island’s Tamils who continue to suffer even after the end of the war. But targeting Sri Lankan tourists is not going to help the cause of Tamils in the island.

It will only make them even more vulnerable to vendetta by Sinhalese mobs. Moreover, it is a case of cutting the nose to spite the face; businesses in Tamil Nadu will suffer if tourism flow and trade with Sri Lanka is hit. Tamil Nadu’s politicians and people must understand that the Lankan tourists cannot be blamed for the plight of the Tamils on the island.