The Indian External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, acknowledged the sentiments of those supportive of the resolution by the Tamil Nadu Assembly regarding the Eelam Tamil issue, however, rejected its demands outright.

Speaking in an interview with CNN-IBN, Khurshid said:

"I take it on board that there are very strong feelings in Tamil Nadu and not just of other parties, but our own party members have very strong feelings. And we have taken those feelings on board. These feelings are not entirely out of sync with what many people in the world think. At the same time we do believe that the negotiation we have done with Sri Lanka, the dialogue we have with Sri Lanka and the effort we have made with Sri Lanka is equally important."

Responding to a serious of questions, Khurshid categorically rejected the possibility of declaring Sri Lanka as an unfriendly country, of placing economic sanctions or passing a resolution calling for a referendum on Eelam.

Khurshid added,

"Long ago. I mean there is no question of accepting that and that is not the only state that has a stake in this. What about the other states? There are many other assemblies. The rest of India is not supporting this. If all of India was supporting it, it would be another matter. But if one state supports something we are sensitive to their concerns, but we don't have to necessarily accept everything they say."

See interview here.