Govt stands divided over PM’s Lanka visit

NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decides on whether he should attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka next week, resistance of three of his senior colleagues in the cabinet may play on his mind.

Defence minister AK Antony, finance minister P Chidambaram and shipping minister GK Vasan oppose top foreign policy advisors who want Singh to attend the crucial biennial meeting in Colombo. They argue that the PM should respect the sentiments of many Indian Tamils who believe that Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government crushed the LTTEled Tamil movement by largescale human rights violation.

The Tamil Nadu assembly has already passed a unanimous resolution opposing the PM’s participation in the November 15-17 summit.

While Chidambaram and Vasan’s reservations are understandable as both are MPs from TN, Antony’s opposition gives their view more weight. The defence minister wants the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to consider the sentiments of nine crore Tamils worldwide. These politicians argue that the PM’s visit will annoy Congress’ chief ally in the state, DMK, a party that aggressively pushes ‘the Tamil cause’.

“The argument that Sri Lanka will drift towards China or the US if the PM does not attend CHOGM is facile. India will continue to be the closest neighbour of Sri Lanka and Colombo will continue to play the China or US card against us,” said a CCS minister. But national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and the ministry of external affairs reject this argument.

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