India seems to be caught napping while politics took a faster turn in neighbouring Sri Lanka where China is flexing its muscles. In developments that will have adverse impact on India, President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed the duly elected government of Ranil Wickremesinghe and then hurriedly sworn in former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha within a span of 24 hours. The same diplomatic error happened in the case of Maldives too a few years back which was however rectified last month reasserting India’s diplomatic hold over that island nation. In the case of Sri Lanka too, due to the lopsided policies of the earlier government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then Sri Lanka government ruled by Rajapaksha went into the Chinese fold leaving India gasping for breath, especially when Sri Lanka has an important role to play in India’s defence needs in the Indian Ocean rim.

There is no denying the fact that Rajapaksha was obliged to China as well as Pakistan when he waged a war against the LTTE during 2006-09 period. Both the countries were helping the Rajapaksha government with arms and logistics as well as intelligence output about the movements of the LTTE while India remained a mere spectator because the LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. That allowed China to get at first a toe-hold in the island nation and now it is set to gobble up the country through a huge debt-trap.

The $ 1.1 billion Hambantota port developed by China was initially leased for a period of 33 years. With Sri Lanka owing more than $ 8 billion to different Chinese firms and its inability to even meet the interest terms, China arm twisted the country to extend the lease of the port to 99 years. Today that port has become a sanctuary for Chinese warships.  This would not have happened had the then UPA government played its cards well. At the same time, it may also be noted that Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sympathetic to India and allotted many projects to India in the recent past. This probably was the undoing of him as China wanted him out and its old ally back as PM so as to cut any Indian role in the country.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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