Indo-Lanka ties under NPP Government

The arrival of the Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar last week for an official visit underscored the importance of Sri Lanka to the New Delhi administration’s foreign policy, which is based on maintaining congenial relations with the neighbouring States. The election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake to presidency attracted a considerable amount of attention from the Indian media.

The JVP – the precursor to the NPP – was extremely anti-Indian in its outlook. In the bygone days, the former Marxist political outfit enjoyed close ties with China, the arch rival of India, while being ideologically influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. The Maldives is currently governed by a pro-Beijing administration while Bangladesh too has gone out of New Delhi’s spectrum of influence with the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, who was a close ally of the Modi Government. In the aftermath of the Presidential election, views were expressed by observers across the Palk Straits about the trajectory of Indo-Lanka relations with a political party, which has an anti-Indian track record, taking over the administration in Colombo.

Everything changes with time. The NPP/JVP too has evolved over the last few decades in terms of its outlook and views. In such a backdrop, it is inaccurate to associate the NPP with the anti-Indian rhetoric of Rohana Wijeweera’s JVP. Furthermore, there were times when the JVP enjoyed a close rapport with the Indian High Commission in Colombo. During the 1989 insurgency, the then Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Nirupam Sen had interacted with a section of the JVP and it was rumoured that the former JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe’s departure from the island at the height of violence in 1989 was facilitated by the Indian Mission. In 2004, it was alleged that Nirupam Sen, in his capacity as High Commissioner, had played an influential role behind the scenes in forming the coalition between the SLFP and the JVP to bring down the Ranil Wickremesinghe-led UNP administration.

Meanwhile, President Dissanayake caused a stir during the election campaign when he vowed to cancel Adani Group’s wind power project, which intends to generate 484 megawatts of wind energy in Mannar and Pooneryn under a 20-year agreement with an investment of $ 440 million. Dissanayake had opined that the controversial project posed a threat to the island nation’s energy sector sovereignty. The wind power project has been associated with environmental concerns as well as lack of transparency. Gautam Adani is a close ally of the Indian Premier Narendra Modi and abrupt cancellation of the projects related to the Indian billionaire could undermine the ties with the emerging Asian superpower. 

President Wickremesinghe enjoyed a close rapport with the Modi administration and the former was seen as close to New Delhi. The India-Sri Lanka Economic Partnership Vision agreement, which was unveiled during the tenure of the former President, envisioned taking the relationship between the neighbours to greater heights by enhancing maritime, air, energy, financial, and people-to-people connectivity. New Delhi would be keen to see the continuity of the infrastructure projects with Indian involvement despite the change of political power in Colombo.

The anti-Sri Lankan attitudes of political parties in Tamil Nadu have regularly obstructed the cooperation between Delhi and Colombo. Illicit poaching by Indian fishermen, mainly from Tamil Nadu, in Sri Lanka’s northern seas is a huge threat to the livelihoods of fishermen in the northern parts of Sri Lanka apart from adversely affecting the friendship of the two States. The bottom trawling method of fishing used by Tami Nadu fishermen is extremely harmful to marine habitats on the ocean floor, creating serious conservation issues.

India’s Central Government must demonstrate a genuine commitment towards cordial ties with Sri Lanka without succumbing to the demands of Tamil Nadu-based political parties. India has always been a challenging aspect of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy and the newly elected Government needs to be pragmatic in its approach towards the neighbour.