Tamil Nadu criticises Lankan PM remarks -Governance Now

Tamil Nadu criticises Lankan PM remarks

Wickremesinghe said that Indian fishermen could be shot if they intruded into the country's waters

Shivani Chaturvedi | March 9, 2015 | Chennai

Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe remarks on Indian fishermen has led to a major controversy. Wickremesinghe said that Indian fishermen could be shot if they intruded into the country's waters. His remarks are being highly criticised in Tamil Nadu.

Ajit Menon teaching at Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) says, such a statement by Sri Lankan prime minister would only aggravate ill feeling between people of the two nations. It is not a positive development. Moreover, prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the island nation on March 13, this would pre-empt any kind of possibility of talk on fishermen issue.

Menon, who is also working on fishermen related issues, says, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Sri Lanka has been relatively silent on fishermen issue. He further adds, “There is also a perception that after recent elections the Sri Lankan government had become liberal on trawler issue. The number of trawlers crossing Indian border and going in Sri Lanka waters has increased. People in Sri Lanka were unhappy with this.”

Chennai-based political observer Gnani Sankaran says, “It is very unfortunate that the Sri Lankan prime minister made such a statement. It is undiplomatic. A government cannot be so aggressive.” “Indian government should take up this issue when Modi visits Sri Lanka in March,” he adds.

Comments

Other News

Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure released

The final ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’ by ‘India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development’ was released in New Delhi on Monday. The Task Force was led by the

How the Great War of Mahabharata was actually a world war

Mahabharata: A World War By Gaurang Damani Sanganak Prakashan, 317 pages, Rs 300 Gaurang Damani, a Mumbai-based el

Budget expectations, from job creation to tax reforms…

With the return of the NDA to power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are now on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s full budget for the FY 2024-25. The interim budget presented in February was a typical vote-on-accounts, allowing the outgoing government to manage expenses in

How to transform rural landscapes, design 5G intelligent villages

Futuristic technologies such as 5G are already here. While urban users are reaping their benefits, these technologies also have a potential to transform rural areas. How to unleash that potential is the question. That was the focus of a workshop – “Transforming Rural Landscape:

PM Modi visits Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh in Moscow

Prime minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by president Vladimir Putin, visited the All Russian Exhibition Centre, VDNKh, in Moscow Tuesday. The two leaders toured the Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh. The Rosatom pavilion, inaugurated in November 2023, is one of the largest exhibitions on the histo

Let us pledge to do what we can for environment: President

President Droupadi Murmu on Monday morning spent some time at the sea beach of the holy city of Puri, a day after participating in the annual Rath Yatra. Later she penned her thoughts about the experience of being in close commune with nature. In a message posted on X, she said: