SL refugees want to return home, claims BJP’s Ganesan

At the time when Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami asserted that the AIADMK would continue to insist the Centre to confer dual citizenship on Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its key-ally said on Tuesday that “the return of Tamil refugees to their homeland would be the best solution for them, as their votes was very important for the welfare of Tamils living in the Island nation.” The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were interested in returning to their country of origin and seeking to secure their rights to travel across.  “I am not against providing citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils. But, they do not want it. They want to go back to their motherland. That would be the best solution as their votes are more important for the welfare of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.” However, if such refugees wanted citizenship in India, it could be granted, L Ganesan, senior BJP leader, said in Madurai.

Terming the recent rally staged by the DMK and its ally in Chennai in protest of Citizenship Amendment Act as unnecessary, Ganesan said the Leader of Opposition in the state MK Stalin is making a big issue out of nothing.

Though the Act is new, the BJP had already insisted on this Act in its poll manifesto. Only after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in both the Houses of Parliament and with a nod from President Ram Nath Kovind, the law was enacted. But, protests against the Act by people in parts of India were against democracy and the rule of law.

Referring to Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s comment on the Act, which he said would not be implemented in Puducherry, Ganesan said the Act was not necessary in the Union Territory. Further, he said people should be firm and surely be aware of the difference between alien and Indian. The BJP would certainly organise a series of public meetings to highlight the significance of the Act.

On the ensuing rural local body polls in the state, he said BJP’s alliance with AIADMK would continue and the BJP has come forward to field its candidates to contest polls for various posts. He also exuded confidence that his party would win the polls since contestants were untainted and he ensured that they would render public service round the clock once elected.