MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Monday slammed the Union government over the exclusion of a video-recorded message by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin from the ‘Naam 200’ event recently held in Colombo.
“Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Finance Minister (India) Nirmala Sitharaman and BJP State president (Tamil Nadu) K. Annamalai spoke at the event. But the speech by Mr. Stalin was not telecast. It is highly condemnable,” Mr. Vaiko said in a statement.
According to the statement, the speech was made as per the request of Sri Lankan Minister Jeevan Thondaman, and it had Mr. Stalin recalling the contributions of the Hill Country Tamils, who were forcibly sent to Sri Lanka by the British, to the development of the island nation.
Mr. Stalin had also called for equal access to quality education, health, housing and other facilities for the Hill Country Tamils commemorating their 200th year of arrival in Sri Lanka.
