The Rajapaksas are back in power in Sri Lanka. The result of the Sri Lankan election was on expected lines. Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President of the island nation by defeating Sajith Premadasa. In no time, he appointed his elder brother and all-powerful former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister of the country after the resignation of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Gotabaya is expected to visit India on November 29 on his maiden trip abroad.
After Sajith lost the Presidential election, Wickremesinghe immediately submitted his resignation. Sajith was a candidate of New Democratic Front and is from the United National Party (UNP).
Surprisingly, neither outgoing President Maithripala Sirisena nor Wickremesinghe contested the election. The voting pattern indicates that an overwhelming majority of Sinhalese-Buddhists living in Southern Sri Lanka voted in favour of Gotabaya. Ethnic Tamils and Muslims, in general, supported Sajith. It indicates that still, Tamils and Muslims are not comfortable with the Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.
Keeping in mind the geopolitical importance of Sri Lanka and Rajapaksas’ close relations with China, India’s Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar rushed to Colombo to meet Gotabaya. He conveyed to the newly elected Sri Lankan president that India expects the new government will take forward the process of reconciliation that meets the aspirations of the Tamil community for equality, justice, peace and dignity. Jaishankar extended invite from the PM Narendra Modi to Gotabaya to visit New Delhi which he accepted. He will visit India for two days.
An MEA press release issued at the end of the visit said that Gotabaya expressed his ‘readiness to work with India very closely to ensure development and security’. The way Indian Minister for External Affairs was sent to Colombo suggests that India wants to have a cordial and friendly relation with its traditional friend Sri Lanka. Even Sirisena’s first foreign trip was India in 2015 after becoming President. It was not unexpected as Sirisena was close to India and had defeated two-term President Mahinda in the election mainly because of alleged abuse of human rights during Mahinda’s regime from 2005 to 2015.
During Mahinda’s regime, Sri Lanka’s pro-China stand was a matter of concern for India. Gotabaya was a Defence Secretary then. He is known as a person who crushed the dreaded Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. The United Nations (UN) estimate is that 40,000 Tamils died in the final Army offensive. Many Sinhalese Buddhists see him as a person who can fight militancy. The issue of security was on the centre stage in the election campaign against the background of bombings on April 221, Easter Sunday.
Chinese submarines made repeated undeclared visits during the Mahinda regime in the Sri Lankan waters. Obviously, it did not go well with the South Block. The Chinese submarines were also seen in Maldivian waters. Mahinda had also taken help from Pakistan in their fight against the LTTE. Pakistan was a key supplier of weapons and aircraft for Sri Lanka’s military during their war against the LTTE. Indian government cannot afford to neglect the sentiments of the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka as it has a potential to impact politics in Tamil Nadu.
China has invested hugely in Sri Lanka under Mahinda. The government of India needs to build friendly relations with Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa. India has taken an initiative by inviting Gotabaya. The relations with the Sri Lanka need to be strengthened irrespective of whosoever is in power.
