Chennai:
Like the devil is in the detail, in politics, the motive is often in the timing! Sri Lanka waking up to the existence of India's nuclear plant in Koodankulam long after it was set up and flagging safety concerns at this juncture smacks of a tit for tat mindset. The dead giveaway move is a bid to spite India for its vote in favour of the UN resolution on war crimes against Tamils.
DMK Chief and the UPA's big ally in the South was quick to latch on to an opportunity to fan his 'I Told You So' stance on the Lankan establishment being anti Tamil. Unlike the past, when the DMK patriarch was in power during the climax of the war against the LTTE, the present posturing by the island nation is a minor irritant for even the Centre. It will be interesting to see if Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa issues a statement condemning Lanka, given her consistent stand - right from her Assembly Resolution to her demand for India's vote against the Rajapaksa regime's war crimes in the UN.
I wonder if Sri Lanka's Power Minister Champika Ranawaka is the equivalent of our very own Digvijay Singh! Is he a guided missile or a loose canon?! His Cabinet colleague - Foreign Affairs Minister GL Peres had gone on record to rule out any friction with India over one resolution. So whose shoulders is Ranawaka shooting over? Are his sudden concerns his personal views or do they have the secret backing of his President?
Nevertheless, the 'concerns' over the danger of radiation and the threat to knock at the doors of the global atomic watchdog - IAEA comes across as sabre rattling. What is certified safe in one country cannot be unsafe for another. The Charter of the IAEA and the Convention On Nuclear Safety will have to be scrutinised with a fine tooth comb by the External Affairs Ministries of both countries when they discuss the subject.
Ranawaka's fears may at best give the struggle by the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy a much needed shot in the arm, battered as the crusaders have been by the might of the Tamilnadu establishment, which has invoked even sections on sedition to quell their protests.