Chennai, (Samajweekly) Sri Lankan Tamil MP V.S. Radhakrishnan on Sunday called upon Tamil Nadu and the Indian governments to accord Indian citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are living in different parts of the state.
A large number of Sri Lankan Tamils, who had worked in plantations and took asylum in India due to the civil war in Sri Lanka, are living in various refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, he told reporters after meeting the Muslim League leader Khader Moideen.
Moideen said that even though the civil war in Sri Lanka had ended ten years ago, they are continuing to work in India as the job opportunities in the island nation were bleak.
Radhakrishnan praised the efforts of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on improving the living conditions in the Sri Lankan refugee camps in Tamil Nadu and called upon him to take initiative to get them Indian citizenship. He also said that the Indian government could offer the Sri Lankan Tamils dual citizenship as several other foreign countries have done.
He also said that the Chinese were showing aggressive interest in strengthening its economic activities in Sri Lanka. While setting up the Hambantota Port, the Chinese had taken steps to set up wind and solar energy projects on three islands that were close to the Indian coast, he said.
Radhakrishnan also said that the Sri Lankan Tamil parties had vehemently opposed the port development project by China but the ruling party, that had a majority, has passed the Bill on port development in parliament.
Security concerns in India regarding the same were understandable, he said.
