For Congress, enough seems enough

(February 12, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sounding tougher than is usual, Tamilnadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K V Thangkabalu today said his party would not remain silent anymore if the State government failed to take action against those indulged in violence over the Lankan issue.

In a ‘warning’ here, he said some ‘anti-socials’ had been involved in burning portraits of Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and party flags in the name of expressing their support to Lankan Tamils, despite several attempts by the Centre to bring peace in the neighbouring nation. Congress functionaries and their offices were being attacked.

‘Following requests from the State government and the TNCC, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke twice with Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee personally met Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka and urged for the safety of Tamils. As a result, Lankan forces announced a 48-hour ceasefire for safe evacuation of Tamils. However, the LTTE refused to free the innocent people for their selfish motives,’ he said.

Stating that the Congress would neither forget nor forgive the murder of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by ‘traitors of Tamils’, Thangkabalu said, however, the party’s stand was to find an amicable solution and to bring peace in the lives of Tamils in the island nation.

‘The Central government is doing its best in this regard. Even after all these activities, some anti-socials are involved in violent activities against Congress activists and their offices. We will be forced to hit the streets if the State government failed to take action on these people,’ he said.

He also said the Tamilnadu government should protect the law and order by preventing such activities in the future.

Gnansekaran receives threat again

Congress MLA C Gnanasekaran, who is also the Vellore district president of the party, received a letter which threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to refrain himself from the Lankan issue.The letter said that the residence of Ganasekaran would be ransacked and no one could stop them from the act.

Alleging that the MLA had amassed wealth by unruly acts, the letter said he should not pressure the police to arrest Neelachandrakumar, a Tamil activist.

It is to be noted that the office of Gnanasekaran was attacked recently. Following this, one Devaina Mudhalvan, an office bearer of an organisation called Ilampasarai was arrested. Gnansekaran is vociferous in the Lankan issue and is known for expressing his voice against the LTTE.

-Sri Lanka Guardian