‘Cut in Malaysian palm oil import to hit Tamils hard’
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president KS Alagiri on Tuesday urged the BJP-led Centre not to reduce the volume of palm oil imported from Malaysia. Referring to the reported resolution of the Centre deciding to reduce imports from Malaysia and make up for it by sourcing palm oil from Indonesia, Alagiri said that it was obvious that the decision to reduce palm oil import from Malaysia was taken to avenge the latter’s condemnation of scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution. Condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for acting with a myopic view, the TNCC president said the PM would not understand the ties between Malaysia and India because majority of Indians there were Tamils and the rest belong to Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka. Claiming that the bonhomie between India and Malaysia was six decades old and Indian diaspora was the third largest population there, Alagiri said that around 20 lakh Indians live in Malaysia and most of them are Tamils. Reasoning that a good number of the expatriate Tamils in Malaysia were employed in Palm plantations, Alagiri said the livelihood of those Tamils would be jeopardised if the Centre cuts down on palm oil import from there. Pointing out that about 5 lakh Tamils were employed in restaurants and technology sector, the state Congress chief justified that about 90 per cent of their earnings were sent back to Tamil Nadu, which contributes to the forex of the country. The decision to cut import from Malaysia was taken without factoring in the abovesaid issues, Alagiri said, urging the Modi regime to roll back its decision to reduce the volume of palm oil imported from Malaysia.