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Updated: Nov 20, 2019 00:48 IST

Days after Gotabhaya Rajapaksa won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, his nephew and fledgling politician Namal Rajapaksa, on Tuesday took a swipe at politicians in Tamil Nadu who criticized the poll result and still swear allegiance to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that fought and lost a 30-year long civil war in the island.

Namal Rajapaksa who is an elected MP for the Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) and the son of former president Mahinda, told TN politicians to “stop shedding crocodile tears for Sri Lankan Tamils” and demanded that they work constructively for the future of their ethnically-related counterparts in Sri Lanka.

When the results of the presidential election in Sri Lanka were announced, MDMK general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, Vaiko, had termed it “a gloomy day in the history of Sri Lanka”.

“Gotabaya’s success as the President for Sri Lanka has raised our fears. The Indian Government and the world should protect Tamils,” Vaiko told the media on Sunday.

PMK founder Ramadoss and VCK chief Tirumavalavan, too, concurred with Vaiko in expressing worry over Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s success.

“While Sajith Premadasa’s election campaign reiterated the growth and rehabilitation of Tamils, Gotabaya always spoke of strengthening the army. His success is not good news for Lankan Tamils,” Ramadoss said in a statement

Namal’s two-page statement lambasting Tamil Nadu leaders was issued in Tamil and is being interpreted as a conciliatory gesture towards the Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces, the majority of whom did not vote for the former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, as they hold him responsible for war crimes allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the last phase of civil war in 2009.

“Some TN politicians have never done anything for the betterment of Sri Lankan Tamils,” the statement read. “Instead of helping them, TN politicians often use our nation’s Tamils as a tool for their own opportunistic political gains.”

Sri Lankan Tamils jovially refer to Tamil Nadu leaders’ professed concern for their Sri Lankan counterparts as ‘karvepulle’ (curry leaf’) politics. “They use us like the curry leaf, popping us into a sauce to lend flavor and then discarding us,” is a frequently-heard refrain among members of Sri Lanka’s largest minority.

“Leaders across the globe, including the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated our party’s winning candidate, Gotabaya. But Vaiko, general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) Ramadoss of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), and others shed crocodile tears ostensibly because they are ‘worried’ about Tamils in our country. What have they done for our Tamils? They used them as a tool and intensified the enmity between our nations various citizens. This shows they are engaging in third-rate politics,” Namal’s statement read.

The Sri Lankan MP also recalled the visit of an Indian delegation to the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka after the war ended and pointed out that even TN MPs on the delegation like Thirumavalavan, had engaged with Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president and brother of the current incumbent. “Now, Thirumavalavan’s statement against us comes as a shock,” Rajapaksa added.

Meanwhile, Namal Rajapaksa’s fiery statement has sparked reactions in Tamil Nadu. PMK spokesperson K Baalu said that the Rajapaksa family had no standing to criticize his leader Ramadoss.

“The election results in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka show that the Sri Lankan Tamils have not accepted Gotabhaya. Tamils in Sri Lanka know about his outrageous behaviour during the war. It was not just a civil war. Gotabhaya and his brother had executed genocide against the Tamils. So, the Tamils in the island nation avoided voting for him. If we don’t raise our voices for the Tamils there, who will?” he asked.

(With inputs from Padma Rao Sundarji)