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Kanimozhi submits resignation to Karunanidhi

Kanimozhi

CHENNAI: Rajya Sabha Member Kanimozhi submitted her resignation to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday to protest the killing of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the island nation.

This is pursuant to a resolution adopted at an all-party meeting on Tuesday, which said that MPs from Tamil Nadu would resign if a ceasefire was not brought about in Sri Lanka within two weeks.

She said she did not want to wait for the two weeks deadline to pass.

Her handing over the resignation was to express solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils and to protest against the genocide in that country.

Confirming the receipt of the letter, Mr Karunanidhi told The Hindu that he would decide on forwarding it at an appropriate time.

Ms. Kanimozhi handed over the letter, addressed to the Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, in the morning.

Though she took care to avoid the media at the Chief Minister’s Gopalapuram residence, the Chief Minister shared the letter with the media.

Asked if the Sri Lankan Tamils issue was still on top of the agenda of the people in the State, Ms. Kanimozhi said most Tamils in the State cared for what happened to their race elsewhere.

“Except for the English-speaking upper class, everyone else in Tamil Nadu cares for Sri Lankan Tamils,” she said.

Disagreeing with the view that the threat of resignation was an overreaction, she said the Tamil Nadu government and the people were left with no other option.

“You cannot merely sit back and watch as your own people are killed in your neighbourhood. You cannot let your people suffer for 10-15 years merely because a few terrorists are there in their midst,” she said, adding that the condition of people living in refugee camps in Sri Lanka and elsewhere left a lot to be desired.

“A whole generation of youth has grown up in refugee camps. How long can this go on,” Ms. Kanimozhi asked and asserted that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam should not become an excuse for the world to forget the plight of the Tamils in the island nation.