Elections on mind, launches Chennai Metro Rail extension projectPMvows support for Lankan Tamils

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 14

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the NDA government headed by him was committed to ensure that Tamils of Sri Lanka lived there with dignity.

With his eyes set on the fast approaching Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Modi spoke at length about the Sinhalese Tamils, whose treatment by the Sri Lankan Government remains an emotive issue in Tamil Nadu.

“The issue of Tamil rights are taken up by us consistently with the Sri Lankan leaders,” said Modi, who was speaking at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium after inaugurating multiple projects from the venue.

Stating that he had the “honour” of being the only India Prime Minister to have visited Jaffna in Sri Lanka, Modi said railway connectivity was being extended to Jaffna and Mannar in Sri Lanka.

Listing various welfare measures undertaken by India in Sri Lanka for the Tamil population there, Modi said a hospital at Dickoya, free ambulance service, 50,000 houses for displaced Tamils in North-Eastern Sri Lanka were some of these projects.

Modi’s announcement that no Indian fisherman was in Sinhalese custody right now was greeted by the crowd with applause.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister Paneerselvam, both from the AIADMK, were present at the dais. The BJP is expected to tie up with the AIADMK for the state elections.

The PM also handed over a replica of the main battle tank (MBT) Arjun Mk 1A to Army Chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane at the event.

He also talked about making Chennai “the tank manufacturing hub” of the country. He claimed that both tank (Arjun Mk 1A) and its ammunition were made indigenously. The PM also inaugurated a number of infrastructure projects, including Chennai Metro Rail extension project and laid stone of an irrigation project.