Offcial wesite of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Sri Lanka, which comes under President Rajapaksa and run by his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had taken an article critical of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha out and Sri Lanka government had published an a “unqualified apology” to Indian Prime Minster and Tamil Nadu Chief Minster. The article ‘How meaningful are Jayalalitha’s love letters to Narendra Modi?‘ that was posted on the MoD site was full of third rate attacks against the Chief Minister.
”Taking strong exception to an alleged derogatory article about her on the Sri Lankan defence website, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today accused it of trying to create fissures in India’s federal polity as she demanded an unconditional apology from Colombo for the insinuations against her” reported OutLook today.
In few hours time Yahoo India reported that ” the Sri Lankan government has tendered an “unqualified apology” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for a controversial article on the two leaders on its defence ministry’s official website.
SLB publish below both news reports in full
SL Trying to Create Fissures in India’s Federal Polity: Jaya
Chennai | Aug 01, 2014
Taking strong exception to an alleged derogatory article about her on the Sri Lankan defence website, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today accused it of trying to create fissures in India’s federal polity as she demanded an unconditional apology from Colombo for the insinuations against her.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi hours after the controversy broke out, leading to a furore in Tamil Nadu’s political circles, she said that it also depicted him in a ‘disrespectful manner.’
She said it was brought to her notice that the article, titled ‘How meaningful are Jayalalithaa’s love letters to Narendra Modi’ had been published in the website of Ministry of Defence and Urban Development of Sri Lanka.
Though the article had been removed following an outcry in her state, ‘the damage has been done,’ she told Modi.
She urged Modi to immediately direct the External Affairs Ministry to summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and ‘clearly express India’s displeasure’ over the manner in which the article was hosted and “seek an unconditional apology from the Government of Sri Lanka.”
“The visual rendering on the homepage of the official website just above the link is highly objectionable as it depicted both the Prime Minister of India and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (herself) in a very trivialized, derogatory and disrespectful manner,” she said in a letter to Modi.
She said the article contained certain unwarranted and unfounded comments about her consistently taking up issues such as the arrest of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, including her strident stand against ceding of Katchatheevu,an islet, to Sri Lanka by way of two agreements in 1974 and 1976.
“This is a livelihood issue for lakhs of fishermen families in my state whose cause I have been espousing and will continue to espouse strongly,” she said.
Jayalalithaa said her refusal to accept the ceding of Katchatheevu was based on legal grounds.
The article ascribed motives to her without any basis, including the ‘insinuation’ that she had demanded the release of boats from Lankan custody as “some of these may belong to her or her supporters,” she said, citing from the article.
“The article also tries to mischievously create fissures within India’s federal polity where none exist through statements like ‘obviously she is attempting to dent the popularity of the Indian Prime Minister’,” she said.
Jayalalithaa said she as a public political figure had faced criticism and comments but this was a “blatant attempt to ridicule and trivialize the untiring efforts made by a democratically elected leader to resolve an important livelihood issue of fishermen of Tamil Nadu.”
It was ‘completely unacceptable’ that a highly objectionable article was published on the official website, she said.
“The added visual image on the website is clearly aimed at denigrating the elected leaders of India, the world’s largest democracy, and particularly a 66 year-old woman political leader of many years’ standing. These are affronts to India which cannot be ignored or lighlty brushed aside,” she added.
She said while there was a disclaimer that the Defence Ministry bears no responsibility for the ideas in an Op-Ed page where the article was published, the ‘reprehensible visual’ indicated that the views were not necessarily that of the author but the government itself.
Out Look
Sri Lanka tenders unqualified apology to Modi and Jayalalithaa for derogatory article
NEW DELHI: The Sri Lankan government has tendered an “unqualified apology” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for a controversial article on the two leaders on its defence ministry’s official website.
The Sri Lankan government said in a statement that the article was published “without proper authorization and it doesn’t reflect the government’s official position.”
A statement posted on the Lankan Defence Ministry website said: “An article titled ‘How meaningful are Jayalalitha’s love letters to Narendra Modi?’ had appeared on our website along with a graphical portrayal of Hon. Prime Minister of India and Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
The article which had been published without appropriate authorization and not reflecting any official position of the Government of Sri Lanka or Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has since been removed.
We extend an unqualified apology to the Hon Prime Minister of India and Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.”
The opinion article written by Shenali.D. Waduge starts with “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned they say and that aptly puts to context the feelings of Jayalalithaa towards Sri Lanka.”
“But, the BJP high powered delegation led by Dr. Subramaniam Swamy who arrived in Sri Lanka at the invitation of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies recently made explicitly clear that Tamil Nadu would not come between Indo-Lanka relations and also thanked the Sri Lankan president for arresting but releasing the Indian fishermen while confiscating the boats,” the article said.
According to the author, the boundary line between India and Sri Lanka is a settled issue and the Tamil Nadu government should look at alternative ways to secure the livelihood of its fishermen following its marine bed destroyed due to bottom trawling.
In the article, Waduge writes that Jayalalithaa is “attempting to dent the popularity of the Indian prime minister while also disturb the amity that is being built between the two nations”.
“Her actions are obviously aligned to the undiplomatic and unscrupulous policies followed by the Sonia-led Congress government where the central government of India was virtually kept strangulated and on a noose by successive Tamil Nadu governments.”
“Tamil Nadu Chief Minister may learn sooner than later that Narendra Modi is not a puppet to dance to her tantrums or threats,” the author said.
IN