In a rare show of comraderie, political parties in Tamil Nadu rallied behind Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in condemning a derogatory article against her on a Sri Lankan official website, forcing Colombo to issue an unqualified apology and remove the post.
The article in the website of Ministry of Defence and Urban Development of Sri Lanka left all sections of society in Tamil Nadu fuming with AIADMK and various Tamil outfits staging protests across the state and venting their anger by burning effigies and photos of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
As tempers rose in the state and the issue rocked Parliament with AIADMK raking it up, the article was removed, with Sri Lanka tendering an 'unqualified apology.'
"We extend an unqualified apology to the Hon Prime Minister of India and Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu," said a statement posted on the Lankan Defence Ministry website.
Jayalalithaa found the backing of some of her harshest critics, including arch rival DMK, which termed the incident as 'cheap' while BJP called for strong condemnation of the incident.
The article titled 'How meaningful are Jayalalithaa's love letters to Narendra Modi?," mocking at her repeated communications to him on issues concerning the state fishermen and involving Sri Lanka, received all-round condemnation.
A staunch critic of the Rajapakse regime, Jayalalithaa fired a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, insisting that the article was an attempt to create fissures in India's federal polity. She demanded an unconditional apology from Colombo for the insinuations against her.
Though the article, which also had a graphic image of Modi, had been removed, 'the damage has been done,' she said.
She urged Modi to immediately direct the External Affairs Ministry to summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and 'clearly express India's displeasure' over the manner in which the article was hosted and "seek an unconditional apology from the Government of Sri Lanka."
"The visual rendering on the homepage of the official website just above the link is highly objectionable as it depicted both the Prime Minister of India and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (herself) in a very trivialized, derogatory and disrespectful manner," she said in her letter.
