Capital Buzz: How the Centre so stoically ignored Vaiko's detention, deportation in Malayasia

The usually active South Block which houses Foreign Office in the Capital is maintaining a stoic silence on the arrest of the MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) chief Vaiko in Kuala Lumpur.
  
Till now the Union Government has not made any comment on Vaiko's detention in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister, has a good habit of attending to any problems mentioned on Twitter. Whether it is passport issuance or a hold up in the foreign soil, she is always an active participant. But in the Vaiko matter, even Sushma Swaraj conveniently ignored that a leading state leader was detained for over five hours and was later deported back.  

Insiders in BJP do not want to comment on this, and the party intends to wash off its hands quietly saying that the entry matter is related to a country's immigration policy. The issuance of a visa is no guarantee that a person will be allowed into the country. In Vaiko's case Malaysia or Penang where he was to attend a wedding.

The Foreign Office has argued that Vaiko never reached out to MEA whether on Twitter or in person. In fact, South Block learnt of the incident only after TV news channels aired the incident.

As per the usual protocol, Vaiko is supposed to keep the External Affairs Ministry informed of his proposed foreign visits. In usual cases, the MEA alerts the Indian Missions abroad about a head of a political party's tour, be it personal or official. 

A BJP source at 11 Ashok Road feels that Vaiko is an emotional politician. On Friday, the TV news channels had detailed visual stories, while the print media ignored it even in Chennai. BJP says it is a fourth or fifth-page news item with single column.  

Indirectly meaning that VAIKO should have approached 
Union Government instead of getting a demonstration organised in front of Malaysian Consulate General in Chennai.

Why was Dinakaran in Delhi?

TTV Dinakaran was in New Delhi on Friday. Why was he in here? And Why was his stay was kept a
secret from media. The entire day went with speculations. Having been in Jail for more than a month he wanted to rest in a New Delhi five star hotel, without any disturbance, was one theory
projected. 

But at the same time, supporters of TTV Dinakaran confirmed that "Iyya" in Delhi met two MLAs from Edapati Palanisamy camp before departing for Chennai on Saturday.

This Tuesday, Dinakaran, according to sources, is travelling with all relatives to Bengaluru to meet Sasikala. It is speculated that a policy decision about AIADMK's stand on the Presidential elections - whether to support to BJP Candidate or not - will be made after the meeting.

Insiders are also speculating since it is a secret ballot, Sasikala and Dinakaran will not be able to control the outcome of the results. The Edapati Palanisamy camp is expected to vote for
BJP but Dinakaran faction may opt for Opposition nominee in the presidential poll.

Interestingly almost all the camp leaders are flying to Delhi to keep BJP leaders 'happy."  O Pannerselvam and Dr Maitreyan are meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday next week to express solidarity with BJP and vote for BJP nominee in presidential elections.

(R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist based in Delhi. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect that of Asianet Newsable.)