Washington DC, USA
September 18, 2025
The Right Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
152 South Block
New Delhi, India
Dear Rt. Hon. Prime Minister,
World Thamil Organization, Inc. (WTO) is a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of North Carolina, USA. WTO has been promoting and fostering Tamil language and espousing the welfare and legitimate rights of the Tamil people and other Indian brothers and sisters who are all living in various parts of the world. As you know, Tamil language, which is one of the few oldest living languages in the world and which has a huge wealth of literature and culture, has been recognized as a classical language by the Government of India. We very much appreciate your genuine interest in Tamil language as evidenced by your quotes from Thirukkural and other Tamil literature in your speeches.
We, at World Thamil Organization, write this letter to thank your government for the recent action taken to provide some relief to the Sri Lankan Tamils who have been suffering from extreme hardships in the refugee camps in Tamil Nadu for over three decades. These Tamil people were made refugees only due to the brutal killings and other atrocities perpetrated against them by some chauvinistic, murderous Sinhalese Buddhist people and their government ever since the British left the island in February 1948. The sufferings that these Tamil people underwent in Sri Lanka are lot worse than those of the Hindus in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Even after a recent exemption from penal provisions for unregistered migrants who arrived before January 9, 2015, the Sri Lankan Tamils are not eligible for long-term visas (LTVs) in India. While the exemption removes the “illegal migrant” tag and allows Sri Lankan Tamils to stay without punishment, it does not directly grant Sri Lankan Tamils the right to LTV and does not, by itself, enable them to apply for Indian citizenship.
On behalf of the Tamils living in various parts of the world, we request you, Sir, to grant the Sri Lankan Tamils in India the same rights as the Hindus who migrate to India from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Thank you in anticipation.
With deep respects,
Rajaratnam Gunanathan
President, World Thamil Organization, Inc.