George calls for restraint, Karunanidhi gets shriller

Ironically, the task of rapping Karunanidhi on the knuckles fell on that old sympathiser of the Tamil cause, Defence Minister and Samata Party leader George Fernandes. When reporters at Chennai airport asked him to comment on the CM’s proposal, Fernandes did not take the bait and instead said the National Democratic Front (NDA) expected its partners to have “discipline in their action” though individual constituents had a right to express their opinion on the Sri Lankan issue.

He said the Government of India had a policy on Sri Lanka. Individual parties may have ideas they may like to throw up for public discussions but what the NDA expects is discipline in action. He, however, added there was no censorship of opinion.

Asked about his opinion on the Czech model proposed by Karunanidhi for Lanka, Fernandes said he had no individual opinion but could reflect only the Government of India’s stand. He said the Government had taken a stand that it would not interfere in the unity and integrity of Sri Lanka. India would offer only humanitarian aid, if it was sought.

Karunanidhi, meanwhile, continued to assert that his was the only workable idea. His strong defence came in the form of a five-page statement. He was scathing in his attack on his critics. Those who talked of Sri Lanka’s unity and integrity were doing so from their “air-conditioned comfort” without understanding the ground realities, he said.

His suggestion was based on a “humanitarian approach” and was not rooted in “linguistic chauvinism”, the DMK chief said. People would understand it better if they came out of their “ivory tower” and took note of the ground realities in Sri Lanka, he asserted.

“There ought to be a distinction between those who talked of Sri Lanka’s unity sitting in air-conditioned comfort and poring over a world map and those who understood the ground realities,” he remarked.

Karunanidhi said if the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE agreed to any kind of a political settlement and went in for either separation or a quasi-federal or confederation set-up, there would be no danger to India, Tamil Nadu or South Asia.

The Chief Minister wanted his “hasty critics” to consider his stand as one that strengthened Prime Minister Vajpayee’s position that the crisis should be solved peacefully and that the island government should shed its policies against Eelam.

“There is nothing wrong in my raising the question as to what sort of political solution should be found in Sri Lanka; whether it envisages a quasi-federal or a confederation set-up or will it involve the Czech-Slovak type separation,” he said.

“How long can a civil war be allowed to continue? Should more people on both sides be allowed to die? Should thousands of people be allowed to enter Tamil Nadu as refugees? These are my concerns and I suggested a political solution,” the Chief Minister said.

Recalling how the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact was shoved into the dustbin and how Tamil students were compelled to recite Buddhist slogans in educational institutions, Karunanidhi said the Tamils had been denied their due in the field of education and employment in Sri Lanka.

He said the Tamilians had resorted to a different line after their attempt to get their rights through the Gandhian non-violent means met with repressive measures and they landed in torture chambers. “Even the Sri Lankan Government can’t deny this. This is a historical fact.”

The Chief Minister said nobody will oppose a solution found by granting more rights to the Tamilians and treating them on par with the Sinhalese. “Certainly, I will not oppose it,” he said, adding that any interim arrangement without rights for the Tamils would amount to only postponing the solution.

Karunanidhi pointed to the long-pending devolution proposals offered by England to Ireland and Wales.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs once again said “the position of the Government of India on the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is consistent, well-known and unchanged.”

The BJP expressed support for Karunanidhi’s view that a political solution should be found but added that the creation of a new state was no solution.Party leader J P Mathur pointed out that India had been partitioned but there was no peace with Pakistan even after that.

Party vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy, meanwhile, said in Chennai that Lanka had overreacted since Karunanidhi’s suggestion was not the official view of the Government of India.