My compliments to UPA for keeping off Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government must be complemented for helping the Sri Lankan government crush the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) movement. There was so much pressure on his government from their DMK allies to intervene but Dr Singh stood firm. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is a crook and must be isolated from creating any more problems for Sri Lanka or India. LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was in some ways DMK creation and was largely sustained by Tamil jingoism in India. Indira Gandhi did not help matters by extending her covert support to LTTE in its early secessionist struggle against Sri Lankan government. India paid a heavy price for that with the life of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Now that the whole sordid drama has come to an end, Tamil sub-nationalism must be dealt with firmly and conclusively. Indian National Congress must develop its own presence in Tamil Nadu.

Bengali and Tamilian politicians do not seem to understand that Burma and Sri Lanka are two pillars of the ‘Gateway to India’. China has been drooling at the unique opportunity by the instability in both Burma and Sri Lanka. Our dumb politicians in either state do not care about India’s national security and play ethnic politics in other countries. India must have deep and widespread bilateral relations with Sri Lanka as well as Burma. We should develop huge trade with both countries even if we have to subsidize our imports. China is waiting in the wings to fill the void in all our neighbouring countries including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. China has the means and money to stiff India out of all these countries. We are no more a third world country. India is not only growing as a regional power, it is likely to emerge as a major global power by the middle of this century. It is time we take our share of international obligations seriously and not look towards America or Russia for orders.