Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that he had forgiven the killers of his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had evoked strong criticism from BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan, who said it had come almost nine years after the massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Chennai:
“If Rahul Gandhi had expressed the same goodwill before 2009, lakhs of Tamils could not have been killed. Why this pretension after annihilation Tamils,” she asked.
Tamiliasi said LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the military offensive and asked, “Will people buy Rahul’s statement of regret for Prabhakaran’s death now?”
Speaking to reporters, she expressed surprise at the comments of Rahul and said it had come at an expected time.
The BJP leader said the military offensive in 2009 was conducted with the aim of taking revenge for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
She also alleged that the offensive intensified after Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi visited the Vellore prison and met Nalini, convicted in the murder of the former prime minister.
Tamilisai pointed out that even the island nation’s generals had openly stated that the war could not have been won without the assistance of Indian government.
She also hit out at DMK working president MK Stalin, who had welcomed Rahul’s ‘humanitarian gesture.’
However, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy attacked Rahul from another angle and said the Congress leader lacked patriotism. He said that the accused were punished for killing a prime minister not just Rahul’s father.
He also took a dig at Priyanka’s act and asked, “Why did Priyanka, who is not a relative of the prisoner meet Nalini.”