Modi 3.0 and Tamil Nadu-influenced Indo-Lanka relations

Narendra Modi and the NDA (the BJP-led coalition) returned to power last week after capturing 293 seats in Lok Sabha, securing a working majority in the assembly. Modi became only the second Premier in the history of India to secure a third consecutive term via people’s mandate after the first Prime Minister of India – late Jawaharlal Nehru. However, this historic milestone was overshadowed by the extremely negative narrative communicated by both local and international media. 

The inability of the BJP to gain a majority on its own was portrayed as a defeat while the Congress-led INDIA coalition’s better-than-expected performance was depicted as a victory. Such skewed observations failed to realise that building alliance-based governments at the Centre has been the norm in contemporary Indian politics. The outright victory of the BJP in 2014 was the first time a political party achieved a working majority on its own after 1984, when the Congress was swept into power with an overwhelming majority on the back of the unprecedented wave of sympathy in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. 

Despite India being such a youthful electorate – more than 65% of its population is below the age of 35 – the responsibility of leading the world’s most populous state was handed over to a septuagenarian by the constituents of the emerging global super power. Having a youthful or middle-aged leader does not guarantee impressive governance as evident by the tenure of Liz Truss – whose policy blunders resulted in her becoming the shortest-serving Prime Minister of Britain in its history – having attained the premiership in 2022 at the age of 47.

The relationship between New Delhi and Colombo has been greatly influenced by the politics of Tamil Nadu since the two nations gained independence. Anti-Sri Lankan DMK – a prominent Tamil Nadu-based political party – was a key partner of the Congress-led opposition alliance. In spite of its efforts to gain a foothold, the BJP failed to secure a single seat from Tamil Nadu while all the seats (39) were won by the INDIA coalition with the DMK capturing 22 and Congress bagging 9. The absence of members from the southern state among the ruling NDA Lok Sabha members is advantageous towards Sri Lanka’s interest. Durai Vaiko – the son of prominent LTTE sympathiser Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy, better known as Vaiko, too has been elected to the legislature from the southern state.

During the period of the rebellion by the LTTE, the regional government of Tamil Nadu, headed by DMK as well as AIADMK (another Tamil Nadu-based party), provided financial as well as logistical support to Tamil Tigers to carry out terrorist activities against the Sri Lankan State. Unfortunately, in order to achieve political gains in Tamil Nadu, the administrations in New Delhi too at certain points of time pursued policies that adversely affected the interest of the island.

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. Further, 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. It is alleged that politicians/political parties in Tamil Nadu encourage fishermen to encroach into the island’s northern seas with the intention of creating rifts between the two states. The endorsement of illegal poaching by Tamil Nadu political parties establishes that the purported solidarity displayed by them to the Tamil community in Sri Lanka during LTTE’s insurgency was nothing but a political gimmick.

Both BJP and the leading political party in Tamil Nadu – DMK, detest each other and President Wickremesinghe should make use of his rapport with the Indian Premier to seek the intervention of the Union Government in New Delhi to put an end to illicit poaching by Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lanka’s seas.