Senior Tamil journalist R. Rajagopalan on Saturday said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj should issue a statement condemning Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's 'provocative' speech regarding the Indian Tamilian fishermen.
"Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe's speech at this juncture, when Sushma Swaraj is still in the lands of Sri Lanka, he cannot speak like this. It is high time that Sushma Swaraj issues a statement in Sri Lanka condemning Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe because Sri Lankan fishermen are bound to kill Indian Tamilian fishermen," Rajagopalan told ANI.
"Sri Lankan Prime Minister should not use such a tough language. It is provocative and it will create emotional issues in Tamil Nadu. At the same time, he has reasons because the elections for Prime Ministership are being held in the month of May. Therefore, he is instigating his own workers, consolidating the Sri Lankan workers and eliminating these Tamil waters," he added.
Rajagopalan also said that the Sri Lankan Prime Minister is within his rights but he should not speak something irrelevant.
"He cannot speak irrelevant things about Indian fishermen that they will be shot at. He is a humanitarian ground and he cannot compare it with Italian fishermen because these are two different poles. Sri Lankan Prime Minister should use minimum language and maximum sight of constraints so that the instigation between the Tamil fishermen and Indian fishermen, which is of age old thing, not yesterday or today, for the last 25-30 years this, has been a burning issue. So, both sides should constraint a straight," he added.
Rajagopalan further said, "Prime Minister's (Modi) visit to Sri Lanka is being held next week and Prime Minister's concern is Indo-China, Sri Lanka- China. Therefore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is within his rights to establish a contact with the Sri Lankan Government authorities."
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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday to prepare the agenda for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the island-nation next week.
Prime Minister Modi is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka on a two-day visit on March 13 and 14.
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister had earlier on Friday said that his government was willing to make a 'reasonable deal' with India with respect to the fishing rights, adding that the law creates provisions for a man to 'shoot' an intruder in his home.
"If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...Law allows me to do that... On the fishermen issue, As far as I'm concerned, I have very very strong lines. These are our waters...Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing, which is why the Indian fishermen came in. They are willing to have a deal...Let's have a reasonable deal... But not at the expense of the income of the Northern Fishermen," Prime Minister Wickremasinghe said in an exclusive interview to Thanthi TV, a Chennai based news channel.