The PM has been requested by the Tamil regional party, the DMK, to skip the meeting of the leaders of Commonwealth nations.
The Prime Minister has said that he will factor in the "sentiments of the Tamil people" when deciding whether to travel next month to Sri Lanka for a Commonwealth summit.
The PM has been requested by the Tamil regional party, the DMK, to skip the meeting of the leaders of Commonwealth nations.
In a letter sent today to the DMK chief M Karunanidhi, the PM clarified that he will consider "the sentiments of your party and the Tamil people."
In March, the DMK pulled out of the ruling coalition in Delhi, accusing the government of not taking an appropriately strong stand against Sri Lanka at a meeting of the United Nation's top human rights group. The DMK wanted India to accuse Sri Lanka of genocide for the alleged mass atrocities committed by the island's defence forces in the last few months of the civil war which ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the rebel Tamil Tigers.
Last evening, senior DMK leader T R Baalu visited the PM and informed him that an activist named K Thiagarajan has been on a hunger strike in Chennai since October 1 demanding that India boycott the Commonwealth session in Sri Lanka. All major political parties agree.