According to a statement issued by the state Government, Manmohan Singh had spoken to Karunanidhi over the phone from the national capital assuring that the Union Government would not spare any efforts to ensure the safety of Tamils there. Revealing what transpired during the conversation, the statement added that Karunanidhi had requested the PM to summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in India and convey the country’s protest over the killings. The Chief Minister also asked Singh to intervene to prevent incidents of firing upon Indian fishermen by the Lankan navy.

The crisis faced by Tamils in Lanka, always an emotional issue for the public in the state, came to the fore recently, provoked by reports of alleged racial profiling by the military there. This snowballed into a political controversy in the state with Opposition parties and erstwhile allies charging the ruling DMK and Karunanidhi of neglecting the plight of Tamils there despite being in power at both the Centre and state.

The importance of the Lankan crisis in Tamil Nadu politics was made evident by the protest fast on October 2 organised by the CPI against the Lankan Government’s ‘atrocities’. Though the fast fizzled out due to the non-participation of the AIADMK, the run up to it put the DMK on a fire-fighting mode leading to its announcement of organising its own protest meeting.

On Sunday, Karunanidhi asked his partymen to send telegrams to the Prime Minister, a move ridiculed by its erstwhile ally PMK which maintained that the Chief Minister should speak to the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister to solve the crisis. Despite professed doubts on the efficacy of such forms of protest, several thousands of telegrams were sent to the Prime Minister.