BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai has welcomed the welfare initiatives announced by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
In a significant departure from calling the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Tamil Nadu as ‘refugees’, the BJP Tamil Nadu President referred to them in his letter as ‘Sri Lankan Tamils who have migrated to Tamil Nadu’ in order break the refugee tag and treat them with dignity.
Chief Minister MK Stalin had announced the refugee camps would henceforth be called as rehabilitation camps stressing that the Tamil Nadu government would continue to work for their welfare. He said ₹317.40 crore has been allocated for housing, education and employment schemes for Sri Lankan Tamils.
CM Stalin also said that since many houses in the refugee camps are in bad condition, the government has decided to build 7,469 new houses at ₹231.54 crore.
Welcoming the move of CM Stalin, BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been focusing more on the problem of Sri Lankan Tamils ever since he took office. He said that Prime Minister Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to have ever visited Jaffna. He highlighted the welfare measures taken by the Modi government like the inauguration of a hospital built at a cost of ₹150 crore in an area inhabited mostly by Malayaga Tamils (Indian origin Tamils), 50,000 houses constructed for Tamils who had migrated to northeastern part of Sri Lanka, ambulance service project, Chennai-Jaffna flight, Cultural Center at Jaffna built by India, etc.
He also said that the Government of India is in continuous talks with the Government of Sri Lanka to release fishermen and boats captured by the Sri Lankan Navy and highlighted the case where five fishermen from Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram district namely – Emerson, Wilson, Augustus, Prasad and Langlet were immediately released after the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He noted that a 2 + 2 Joint Working Group comprising Foreign Ministers and Fisheries Ministers of both the countries has been formed to address the problems of fishermen.
He also urged CM Stalin to take the spirit forward and work with the Central government constructively to safeguard the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils.
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