Gandhi urges Tamil civilian help

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Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of India's assassinated former PM, Rajiv Gandhi, has called on her country to help Sri Lankan Tamil civilians.

She told the BBC that India needs to do all it can to help Tamil people trapped in the conflict in northern Sri Lanka.

Ms Gandhi was speaking in a rare interview while campaigning for the Congress party, although she is not herself a candidate in the elections.

Her father was assassinated by Tamil Tiger rebels from Sri Lanka in 1991.

In her interview Ms Gandhi, who is the fourth generation of the famous Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, drew a distinction between the rebels and Tamil civilians.

"I think it's India's responsibility to ensure that innocent people were not killed," she said

She stressed that she had little sympathy for the Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

"There is a difference between the cause and the method one follows to achieve the same. It is this difference which decides who is a terrorist and who isn't."

The plight of Tamil civilians has attracted a lot of support in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where the ruling party, an ally of the Congress-led national government, on Thursday announced a 12-hour closure of shops and businesses as a gesture of support.

Ms Gandhi also called for development to be a top priority of Indian politicians.

"Development is the best equaliser," she said, arguing that it would ultimately bring an end to the country's caste system and make India a leading world power.

Although she has campaigned for the Congress party in the current election campaign, Ms Gandhi ruled out a political career for herself, arguing that she did not "feel the need" to be a politician.