Under pressure from the AIADMK, which disrupted Parliament on Monday, the Indian External Affairs Ministry summoned Sri Lankan high commissioner Sudharshan Senviratne to convey India’s strong condemnation over an offensive article published on the website of the Lankan Defence Ministry allegedly insulting  Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

Senviratne met with joint secretary (Sri Lanka-Maldives) Suchitra Durai in the evening. The orders came after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said in the Rajya Sabha that she will summon the high commissioner, as demanded by the AIADMK MPs.

The offensive article was published last week in the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website. The MEA spokesperson had last week said that the Indian High Commission had taken up the matter with Colombo and the article was removed. In its place, an “unqualified apology” was posted. This was clearly not enough for AIADMK supporters.

In both Houses of Parliament, the issue was raised noisily by AIADMK leaders, leading to two adjournments during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha and two others during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha.

AIADMK’s V Maithreyan and his party colleague were on their feet immediately after the Rajya Sabha assembled for Question Hour. While UP and Bihar regional parties were agitating over the UPSC issue, AIADMK members trooped into the Well. During Zero Hour, Maithreyan raised the point again claiming that an apology was not acceptable. “Apology by a junior minister is not acceptable to us. Will the government of India summon the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka and give him necessary instructions... so that President Mahinda Rajapaksa apologises personally,” he asked. Soothing tempers, Sushma Swaraj assured, “India strongly condemns this. We will certainly summon the high commissioner to convey this.”

AIADMK MP M Thambidurai led the charge against the government for not issuing any official statement against the article. A visibly upset Thambidurai, while raising the issue in the Lower House, said the CM has been raising the issue of fishermen with PM Narendra Modi but the Sri Lankan government and Defence Ministry said they were love letters.

“Is this the way how this government should behave? What action has the NDA government taken after Sri Lanka used these derogatory words in the official site?” Thambidurai asked. – The New Indian Express