Talking to TOI, Ranatunga, who is also a Sri Lankan Member of Parliament, said that the top players should opt out of this "money-making venture of the BCCI."
"The decision of the Indian government and the BCCI has deeply hurt me. How can you ask Sri Lankan players to stay away from a city? I think this is sheer insult for our players," Ranatunga fumed.
On Tuesday, following Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's letter to the PM, the BCCI barred 13 Sri Lankan players to play in the Chennai matches of the IPL. Ranatunga felt that this is a case of "mixing politics with sports".
"Even when Sri Lanka were at war, Indian teams came and played here. We also went to India and played matches. We never felt that there was any threat to our lives.
I think it's absolutely untrue that the Sri Lankan players' safety would have been under threat if they were playing in Chennai," Ranatunga said.
SLC, though, asked its players not to play in Chennai, even though they were cleared for the April 3-May 26 event. "Discussions were held with minister of sports regarding the release of Sri Lanka players for IPL 2013.
Based on a note sent by minister for external affairs regarding the safety of players, it was decided that No Objection Certificates issued to the players be restricted to exclude their appearance at any venue in Tamil Nadu and also to obtain the players' personal opinion on their willingness to participate in the event," said a statement from SLC.
"At initial stages, SLC liaised with BCCI and obtained safety guarantees for their participation and conveyed their assurances to each individual player. If and when the players express their intention to play in the IPL 2013, they would be permitted to proceed with the restriction indicated on playing in Tamil Nadu," the statement added.
Ranatunga, though, felt that if the players should themselves pull out of the event. "If I was in their place, I would have opted out. It's a case of hurting our sentiments," Ranatunga said.
He went on to add that both Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi are playing the Sri Lankan card because the elections are round the corner. "Have they ever done anything for the Lankan Tamils?
The war is over, the Lankan Tamils are secure now...These are just populist methods to gain a few votes. The truth is that they have never bothered for the Lankan Tamils," Ranatunga said.
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