Sri Lankan President’s Visit to India: Beginning of a New Chapter?
India has announced $400 million Line of Credit to Sri Lanka for infrastructure development and another $50mn Line of Credit for strengthening Sri Lanka’s capacities to counter terrorism – an issue the two leaders discussed at length
Photo: Ministry of External Affairs, India
By: Achal Malhotra
The newly elected President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was on a state visit to India from 28th November at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India; this was his first overseas visit within ten days of winning the Presidential elections, held on 18th November. The formal invitation from the Indian Prime Minister was delivered personally by India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) to President Gotabaya in Colombo last week, which was accepted promptly by the Sri Lankan President, reflecting the importance the two sides attach to bilateral relations.
In order to fully appreciate the significance of the change in regime in Sri Lanka and the newly elected Sri Lankan President’s visit, it would be relevant to mention that President Gotabaya is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-15) under whom he had served as Defence Secretary and two of them are credited with putting an end to the prolonged civil war by neutralising the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) in 2009. Mahinda Rajapaksa has since been appointed as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister. It would be relevant to recall further that it was during the later part of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term (which ended in his defeat in 2015) that relations between India and Sri Lanka took a down-ward slide.Though India had extended a tacit support to Mahinda Rajapaksa by adopting a hands-off policy during his war against the LTTE, it decided to support the US-sponsored resolutions in 2012 and 2013 criticising Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government for not taking enough steps to ensure accountability for the alleged violations of human rights, particularly during the last phase of the war against the LTTE. India also did not respond to Sri Lanka’s offer to develop Hambantota Port – one of the pet projects of President Mahinda Rajapaksa – as it rightly considered it a commercially un-viable project.
India’s decisions apparently did not go well with Mahinda Rajapaksa and he used it as a pretext to turn his economic and security policies China-centric, often ignoring India’s sensitivities. It was thus during his regime that China was able to make deep inroads into Sri Lanka. Several infrastructure development projects awarded to China by Mahinda Rajapaksa included some such projects as Hambantota Port and Colombo Port City, which posed a challenge for India from the perspective of its security concerns in the Indian Ocean. Defying India’s sensitivities, Sri Lanka allowed the Chinese sub-marines to dock at the Colombo Port. China on its part was liberal in extending loans as well as political support to defend Sri Lanka in its international censure over the alleged violations of human rights during the war against LTTE.
The change of regime in Sri Lanka in 2015 applied brakes and to some extent reversed the pro-China thrust in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy. The new President- Maithripala Sirisena ordered a review of projects awarded to China and was quick in reset of relations with India.
Mahinda Rajapaksa accused India of interference by its intelligence agencies to influence the outcome of election results to ensure his defeat. Gotabaya Rajapaksa also was critical of India and had accused it of exerting too much influence in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.
Against this backdrop, the sceptical question being asked in India was: will Sri Lanka go the China-way once again, and do so at India’s cost?
The run up to President Gotabaya’s visit and the outcome of the visit itself would suggest that the history this time may perhaps not repeat itself for some valid reasons. First of all there is a widespread realisation in Sri Lanka on the pitfalls of China’s debt trap, which has already resulted in handing over of the Hambantota Port to China on 99 years lease, being unable to service the heavy loans. Sri Lanka must therefore tread with caution in its further engagement with China. Further, Gotabaya Rajapaksa does not enjoy the confidence of minorities, particularly Sri Lankan Tamils for the alleged atrocities against civilians in its war against the LTTE; they are believed to have voted against him. This is one factor which may influence his approach towards India. And finally, India also appears to have proceeded more judiciously and pro-actively in conveying the right messages including through phone call by Prime Minister Modi and the visit of EAM to Colombo as the prime minister’s Special Envoy.
President Gotabaya’s visit appears to have provided an opportunity for frank and candid discussion on issues of respective concerns and mutual interests. The visiting dignitary identified security and economic development in Sri Lanka as his top priorities, while also announcing his intention to work together and take India-Sri Lanka relations to “very high levels”. Responding adequately, India has announced $400 million Line of Credit to Sri Lanka for infrastructure development and another $50mn Line of Credit for strengthening Sri Lanka’s capacities to counter terrorism – an issue the two leaders discussed at length to strengthen cooperation in fight against terrorism in the interests of the security of the two countries. Prime Minister Modi also underlined that a stable, secure, and prosperous Sri Lanka was in the interest not only of India but of the entire Indian Ocean region. The dreadful terror attacks on churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on 21st April this year have imparted urgency to addressing this issue as it has implications also for India’s security.
Further, the $100mn Line of Credit announced earlier for solar projects in Sri Lanka would soon be made operational. India’s expectations from the new government in Sri Lanka include stability in the Indian Ocean region, which India would like to see free from the control or influence of major powers, particularly China. India would like to neutralise, if not fully eliminate, China’s influence in Sri Lanka, particularly in areas which may impinge upon its own security interests.
In his post-election statements, President Gotabaya has gone at length to address some of India’s major concerns. For instance, in one of the statements, he emphasised that Sri Lanka understands the “importance of Indian concerns” and that “Sri Lanka would work with India as a friendly country and won’t do anything that will harm India’s interests,” He also acknowledged that Sri Lanka was too small a country to get involved in any “balancing act” and therefore would like to remain “neutral” rather than get caught between the power struggle of superpowers”. In the context of the Indian Ocean region, he underlined the strategic location of Sri Lanka as all sea lanes were passing close to his country and added that “these lanes should be free and no country should control these sea lanes” During the Joint Press Conference he revealed his commitment to work for making the Indian Ocean as Zone of Peace.
Apparently, in order to allay fears about his perceived pro-China orientation, he said that Sri Lanka’s involvement with China during the presidency of his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was “purely commercial“, and added “I invite India, Singapore, Japan and Australia to come and invest here. Don’t allow only China to invest.”
India’s other priorities include national reconciliation in Sri Lanka in a manner that meets the aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for “equality, justice, peace and dignity”,including the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s Constitution. President Gotabaya has demonstrated his willingness to reach out to Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka. In a statement he assured that he would act as President of all Sri Lankans irrespective of their ethnic or religious identities and without creating a distinction on whether they voted for him or not. He also said he was committed to ensuring the development of the Tamil-majority Northern and Eastern Provinces, and that he considered India as a valued partner towards this endeavour. While assuring that India would act as Sri Lanka’s reliable partner in the development of entire Sri Lanka including North and East, PM Modi also pointed out that India had already built 46000 houses for the IDPs in Northern and Eastern Provinces and the construction of 14000 houses in up-country for the Indian Tamil community had registered good progress.
On the whole, this new chapter in India-Sri Lanka relations has begun on a good and positive note; it remains to be seen as to how it pans out with the passage of time.
The writer is a former Indian diplomat who has served in Sri Lanka
