As the controversy over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh skipping the Commonwealth meet in Colombo intensifies, the Indian government today upped the ante with Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, V Narayanasamy, attacking Sri Lanka for not fulfilling its commitments towards the Lankan Tamils.

“As far as my point of view is concerned, I’ve been telling right from the beginning, though I come from Tamil-dominated area of Puducherry, that people’s sentiments are very high there.  They say the PM should not go because the massacre of 2009 is still fresh in their memory,” Mr Narayanasamy told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Sri Lanka was engaged in a two-decade long civil war with the minority Tamils, which ended in 2009 with reports of widespread war crimes allegedly by the Sri Lankan army. International agencies have since then been pressing the Sri Lankan government to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

“Sri Lankan forces have not withdrawn from the Tamil-dominated areas,” the 66-year-old minister said. “The country has not given land back to the displaced Tamils,” he added.

It was the longstanding Lankan Tamils issue that forced Dr Singh to cancel his trip to Colombo, with Union ministers from Tamil Nadu - Mr Narayanasamy, P Chidambaram, Jayanthi Natarajan and GK Vasan - asking him to skip the Commonwealth meet.

The issue of fishermen caught across the national maritime limits on both sides is another sticking point. “Indian fishermen are being harassed despite diplomatic engagement with Sri Lanka,” Mr Narayanasamy said.

Strategic experts say India’s capitulation to domestic politics in an election year will end up strengthening Chinese interests in the island nation. “In any case, China is there, building ports in the north,” Mr Narayanasamy said.

Earlier today, Foreign Minister Salma Khurshid dismissed any single issue as the reason behind Dr Singh cancelling his trip. (Read)

“I don’t think we should look at any one single dimension to this decision. Let’s not forget that the Prime Minister doesn’t always go to Commonwealth (meetings),” Mr Khurshid said in an exclusive interview with NDTV.

The Prime Minister has also written to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa regretting his inability to attend the Colombo meet, which will now be attended by an Indian delegation led by Mr Khurshid. - NDTV