India, Lanka no longer confined by bounds of bilateralism

Sri Lanka’s aid of $1 million to earthquake-hit and impoverished Myanmar is the best news in a while that has come from India’s neighbourhood, which is once again in ferment for the most part.

The relief cheque, which was handed over at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo to Myanmar’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, is all the more laudable because the island nation is itself going through a long process of economic recovery, helped by India, among other countries, and multilateral financial institutions.

Sri Lanka breaking the norm by its entrenched domestic elite, represented in the presidential election just over six months ago, is reflected in its aid to strife-torn Myanmar, additionally hit now by a devastating natural disaster.

New and imaginative approaches by the new President Dissanayake were also evident during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka from April 4 to 6.

India-Sri Lanka relations are moving beyond the limits of bilateralism. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between the two countries, also bringing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into its ambit, is the first step towards trilateral initiatives on the island at the level of the three governments. This MoU envisages developing Trincomalee as Sri Lanka’s energy hub, eventually exporting power.

The UAE’s private sector, which is closely aligned to its federated ruling structures, has long been keen on working with India in increasing its presence in Sri Lanka. The UAE’s biggest investment was in Air Lanka in 1998, when Emirates airline purchased 43 per cent of the former’s ownership. Sri Lanka’s long-running ethnic conflict, however, eventually caused Emirates to divest. Private investors also pulled out of Sri Lanka. With peace returning to the island, the UAE wants to pick up the threads of its lost presence there. The trilateral MoU during Modi’s visit marks a new beginning.

Manifest in seven other MoUs signed during Modi’s visit were the same sensibilities which prompted Dissanayake to send relief aid to Myanmar. These MoUs were mostly drawn up with those at the bottom of Sri Lanka’s social pyramid in mind. Goodbye to giant projects, ones like the Maho-Omanthai rail line inaugurated during Modi’s trip.

Six months before Dissanayake won the presidential election, India proactively invited him on a six-day visit hosted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) as its Distinguished Fellow. Kerala, ruled by Marxist comrades of Dissanayake’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), was one of the states included in his ICCR itinerary.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the presidential hopeful was impressed by Kerala’s government-run Technopark, which he visited. Dissanayake said immediately afterwards that he wanted Sri Lanka to adopt the “immaculate IT ecosystem in Kerala,” the island’s close neighbour.

One of the MoUs inked during Modi’s visit was for “sharing successful digital solutions implemented at population scale for digital transformation”. When this MoU is implemented, it is expected that Kerala’s mass digital transformation will be emulated on the other side of the Palk Strait.

Another MoU on defence cooperation, the first of its kind, marked the culmination of Modi-Dissanayake talks since the President’s December visit to India, when there was recognition that national security of both the countries was closely interlinked.

The neighbourhood’s importance in India’s external affairs resurfaced because most of this country’s backyard is now in various degrees of crisis. This transformed Modi’s bilateral meetings with four leaders from neighbouring countries into much more than routine courtesy exchanges.

There was much internal debate at Raisina Hill, the seat of power in the National Capital, on whether Modi should meet Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, on the sidelines of a plurilateral summit in Bangkok or give him the cold shoulder.

A decision in favour of a meeting was taken after considering a series of intelligence assessments that the interim government’s actions were endangering India’s security in its east.

These assessments pointed to China promising to spend $400 million to modernise Mongla port in Bangladesh south of the geographically sensitive Siliguri Corridor (Chicken’s Neck), connecting the Indian mainland to its Northeastern states. The Corridor’s proximity to the tri-junction of India, Bhutan and China adds an external dimension to its vulnerability for Indian security. India has for long operated one of the terminals at the Mongla port, ensuring its presence in this area.

There is also a deep but unarticulated concern in New Delhi that Dhaka plans to station JF-17 multi-role combat aircraft at Lalmonirhat airbase, not very far from Chicken’s Neck. Dhaka announced last month in a worrying new development that its fighter pilots would be trained in Pakistan to fly JF-17 planes. The JF-17 has been jointly developed by China and Pakistan.

An Indian readout of Modi’s meeting with Yunus alluded to the need for “maintaining border security and stability,” a euphemism for India’s concerns about the interim government’s actions. Recent statements by Yunus about India’s vulnerabilities in the Northeast have been taken serious note of at Raisina Hill.

Nepal’s elected government may be shooting itself in the foot by disproportionately cracking down on a movement to restore the country’s Hindu monarchy. Corruption and endemic political instability have made former King Gyanendra Shah a rallying point for dissent.

Modi’s meeting on April 4 with Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli took place in the backdrop of the latter’s conflicting statements — first he accused India of fuelling the pro-monarchy movement and then contradicted himself.

Modi and Oli appear to have skirted the issue at their meeting, focusing instead on consolidating bilateral partnership under India’s Neighbourhood First Policy.

It was unnecessary for Modi to have lectured Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Chairman of its State Administration Council, when the two met in Bangkok, as if India is a South Asian version of the good old “Ugly American”.

Few things offend Myanmarese pride as outsiders lecturing them, like the human rights industry in the West lectures India from time to time.

That said, Operation Brahma, India’s ongoing disaster relief and rescue operation, has reinforced Delhi’s standing as the first responder during natural calamities in its South and East Asian neighbourhood.

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