Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has once again asked the centre to send back the nine Sri Lankan Air force personnel who are being trained in India. She said, "the Indian empire should pounce like a tiger. Sadly India is submissive to Sri Lanka like a mouse".
Last week the Defence Ministry had shifted the Lankan airmen from the Tambaram Air Force Station in Chennai where they underwent a technical training, to the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bangalore following an outcry by the state Chief Minister and other political parties. But Jaylalithaa who spearheaded the protest had said "the nine Sri Lankan air force personnel should not be given technical training in any part of the country". She had earlier termed it "anti-Tamil".
"Tamils want action against Sri Lanka for war crimes and that they will not accept this. Tamils even suspect whether the centre is acting against them," she had said.
Today the AIADMK Chief also came down heavily on her arch-rival Karunanidhi. She says "if Karunanidhi had genuine concern for the Tamil community he should have emphatically told the central government he supports to send the Lankans back".
Rebutting her, DMK Spokesperson T K S Ilangovan says "Jayalalithaa spreads rumours. There is no official confirmation that Sri Lankan airmen are being trained in Bangalore. If it is confirmed the DMK will take it up strongly with the centre".
The Sri Lankan Tamils issue is an emotional subject in Tamil Nadu and any military assistance to the island nation has always met with tough opposition in the past. During the final phase of the war against the LTTE political parties in the state cried foul over India supplying radars to Sri Lanka.
Last year a training programme for 25 Lankan soldiers at the Defence Service Staff College near Ooty in Tamil Nadu was scrapped following pressure from political parties. But the soldiers were reportedly trained in neighbouring Karnataka. This time the ruling AIADMK does not want a repeat of that.
Sources in the Defence Ministry say training to Lankan defence personnel is part of a Common Wealth Programme and it would be difficult for India to detach Sri Lanka from it. As Jayalalithaa ups the ante, it's going to be a tough call for the centre on this sensitive issue.