India’s national interests will always prevail over TN fringe groups’ sectorial interests: Dr. Swamy

Saturday, 7 September 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Former Union Minister and BJP leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy said the support for the so-called “Tamil race” theory and therefore Eelam as a Tamil homeland has now sharply dwindling support amongst Sri Lankan Tamils and even in fringe groups in Tamil Nadu with the realisation of common ancestry.”

“And hence if there is a conflict of interests between the sectional and national interests, then Indian national interest will prevail at all costs,” Dr. Swamy said addressing the defence seminar in Colombo. “Tamils should forget that India will ever again intervene in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, except to raise issues of bilateral agreements and treaty obligations in a friendly way of a cohort and within the SAARC and UN framework.” Dr. Swamy said: “The misguided activities of fringe groups and low-level knee-jerk competitive politics of parties in Tamil Nadu, are not worth any attention since we mainstream patriotic Indians are clear: We are Indians first and Tamils afterwards.” “The Indian Constitution mandates that under Articles 247, 256 and 356, and I as a senior Minister in 1991 had enforced those provisions of the Constitution to have the President dismiss the DMK state government and crush the pro-LTTE movement in Tamil Nadu. There is now no overt presence of LTTE anywhere in India,” he said. “If necessary, we will again invoke those provisions of the Constitution if it becomes necessary in the future, for which eternal vigilance is essential,” he said. Dr. Swamy said it is absurd to pass a resolution in the UNHRC on human rights violations during the conflict against the separatist LTTE. “European and Americans cannot claim to be innocent of such collateral damage in the wars they had waged against terrible enemies,” he said reiterating the military victory of the legitimate state of Sri Lanka and its democratically elected Government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa over the illegitimate treacherous and murderous terrorist organisation the LTTE, has opened the possibility of Sri Lanka emerging as a hub of economic and cultural renaissance. “It should not be forgotten that Sri Lanka has the best record in South Asia on the Quality of Life indices and the Human Development Index. This automatically makes the island nation an attractive destination for FDI, tourists and international conferences,” he added. He explained that Sri Lanka Army can be categorised as a highly efficient and highly motivated army. The whole region must give special thanks to Sri Lanka for defeating such a murderous and ruthless terrorist organisation without the assistance of the UN Security Council or the USA but in what fundamentally an indigenous military operation until the end.”