Rajinikanth cancels Sri Lanka trip following protest

Chennai, March 25  Superstar Rajinikanth on Saturday issued a statement announcing his decision to cancel his trip to Sri Lanka, which has sparked a political controversy in Tamil Nadu. Lyca Productions has announced that Rajinikanth will unveil a housing scheme by its charity wing Gnanam Foundation for displaced Tamils in Jaffna.
According to reports, Rajinikanth readily agreed when Lyca Productions requested him to hand over keys to 150 homes, which Gnanam Foundation had built at a cost of Rs 22 crore. However, the announcement soon snowballed into a political controversy. Many pro-Tamil groups alleged that his visit to Sir Lanka will give the impression to the world that things in the island nation, which was ravaged by the civil war for 30 years were back to normal.
In a diplomatically written statement, Rajinikanth detailed the reasons behind his decision to accept the invitation of Lyca Productions to visit Sir Lanka. “There are two reasons as to why I agreed to take part in this programme. It has been my long time wish to breathe the air, see and touch the land of great warriors, who spilt their blood protecting their ethnicity, rights and self-respect,” he said in the statement. “And I wanted to meet and speak with the Tamil people in Sir Lanka.”
He also added that he wanted to seek an appointment with Sir Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to discuss the issue of killings and arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Lankan navy and urge him to find some solution to the problem. “VCK founder Thol.Thirumavalavan and other political leaders Vaiko and Velmurugan reached out to me through different channels and requested me not to go ahead with the Sir Lankan trip citing several political reasons. Although I don’t fully agree with their reasons, respecting their requests, I won’t attend the event in Sir Lanka,” he said.
On April 9, Rajinikanth was supposed to be one of the special guests at the event in Jaffna along with Chief Minister of Northern Province CV Vigneswaran, Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan, Malaysian Senate leader S Vigneswaran, British all-party parliamentary Tamil council’s leader James Ferry and Justice Committee member Keith Vaz.
On April 10, he was slated to visit Vavuniya, where he would have presented homes to Tamils and planted tree saplings. Following which he was scheduled to tour places like Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi.
He also implored, “I am an artist and not a politician. My duty is to entertain people. If the future presents me an opportunity to visit, meet and entertain Tamils in Sir Lanka, please don’t make it a political issue and keep me from visiting the country.”

The pro-Tamil groups have alleged that proprietor of Lyca Productions Subaskaran Allirajah of having had close business ties with then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is allegedly held responsible for committing war crimes against civilian Tamils during the final days of his government’s battle against LTTE in 2009.
There was also a protest in Tamil Nadu against Lyca Productions bankrolling 2014 film Kaththi, starring Vijay. Many even sought to ban the film. It is now producing Rajinikanth’s upcoming film, 2.0.