After Sri Lankan net affront, angry J Jayalalithaa writes to Narendra Modi

CHENNAI: On a day of rapid developments, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry pulled down a mischievous post against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa from its official website and replaced it with an “unqualified apology”. But it did little to assuage Jayalalithaa.

Coming in the wake of Tamil parties protesting the visit of an Indian delegation to Sri Lanka to participate in a defence conference, the Tamil Nadu chief minister termed the official web post an “affront to India which cannot be ignored or lightly brushed aside.”

Early on Friday morning the official website of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry had a photoshopped picture of Jayalalithaa writing a letter with a heartshaped thought bubble over her head. An image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inserted into this thought bubble. And a prompt above the picture said “New”. On clicking the icon, a new page opened with an article titled: How meaningful are Jayalalithaa’s love letters to Narendra Modi? By Shenali D Waduge.

The article by the Sri Lankan author argued that Tamil Nadu had got the contentious fishermen issue wrong and blamed the chief minister for raking it up. The author not only stated that Tamil Nadu fishermen were at fault for crossing the international border and entering Sri Lankan territory illegally to fish, but also took some potshots at Jayalalithaa.

The article said the Tamil Nadu chief minister was repeatedly writing letters to the prime minister but “may learn sooner than later that Narendra Modi is not a puppet to dance to her tantrums or threats.”