After all, why is India’s answer to the Sri Lankan crisis very important from a geopolitical perspective?

India Responded On Sri Lanka Crisis: As the Sri Lanka crisis reached Rashtrapati Bhavan in Colombo, its echo was felt far and wide. Especially in the Palk-Strait peninsula when the first batch of ‘economic refugees’ arrived at Tamil Nadu Port. It was then that it was known how bad the situation in Sri Lanka was due to the economic crisis. Similarly, 40 years ago, the Tamil population of Jaffna also came to India to take refuge in fear of the fierce Sinhala nationalism there. So this time he has been forced to leave his homeland due to severe financial troubles. In such a situation, India has come forward to help the neighboring country and if seen from the geopolitical point of view, this step of India is being considered very important in global politics.

India cannot remain untouched by the conditions of Sri Lanka

The landing of the first batch of Sri Lankan refugees was enough to remind India that it cannot remain completely untouched by the internal situation in the neighboring island nation. A similar situation arose in the 1980s during the ethnic war between the majority Sinhalese population and the Tamil minority. It is not possible for them to remain isolated from each other. This is the reason why India’s stand on Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has been very cautious. India has tried to completely negate any notion that it has tried to interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs while extending a helping hand.

The current economic slowdown in Sri Lanka gives India an opportunity to reach out not only to its governance and influential people but also to the Sri Lankan people at large. This is the reason why India has come to the rescue of this neighboring country. Under this, India has offered assistance of more than one billion US dollars to Sri Lanka for the purchase of essential items, along with offering a loan for fuel imports.

The talks of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are in the final stages to give financial assistance to Sri Lanka and change the terms of the loan. Meanwhile, India has intensified efforts to maintain Sri Lanka’s economy as part of its neighbor-first policy. Like China, India’s relations with Sri Lanka are not bound by economic and geopolitical compulsions. The two countries have long and deep social and cultural ties, although China’s influence in diplomatic and economic transactions in Sri Lanka has been increasing steadily over the past two decades.

China’s growing influence

According to a report in the year 2020, the international think tank had serious discussions at the Carnegie Center regarding the growing Chinese influence in South-Asia. During this, one thing was revealed that China took forward its personal relations with some important countries of this region. Then the think tank called it one of the many tricks used to increase its influence in this area of ​​Beijing.

Something similar was especially in the case of Sri Lanka. China has been active in this island country for almost two decades. With the rise of the Mahinda Rajapakse family nearly two decades ago, India’s southern neighbor’s profit investment in the Palk-Strait gained momentum. Riding on Sinhala nationalism, Rajapaksa took power and made a best effort to put an end to the Tamil insurgency in the northern and eastern districts of Sri Lanka.

In such a situation, China became an important participant in this war against LTTE by continuously supplying arms and ammunition to the Sri Lankan army. Diplomatically, China had also helped Sri Lanka in thwarting any attempt to raise any issue on the international forum related to the huge loss to the civilian population during the elimination of the LTTE. Because of this, the Communist government of China strengthened both personal and diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka.

In return for this favor from China, Sri Lanka opened its ports and airports to Chinese investors through vanity projects. However, this investment of China came with a price tag. As a result of which Sri Lanka is facing economic crisis. By the year 2020, Sri Lanka increasingly fell into the loan trap. China’s debt increased to six percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP. In the last 7 years, the percentage of China’s debt in the total debt of Sri Lanka has been increasing continuously. Whereas on the contrary, India’s debt on Sri Lanka kept on decreasing.

With this, the result of the increasing influence of China in Sri Lanka started coming to the fore. In the year 2017, Sri Lanka was forced to give its deep water Hambantota port to China on a 99-year lease. The meeting of this port has helped India’s northern neighbor China strategically in establishing a foothold in the Palk-Strait. It is worth noting that Sri Lanka has emerged as a key player in China’s plans to build the Maritime Silk Road under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in the last few years.

In 2015, when Mahinda Rajapakse suffered a sudden and surprising defeat at the hands of friend turned foe M Sirisena. Such developments gave India an opportunity to pursue its efforts. However, the Rajapaksa family, which was ousted from power after five years, returned to power with a large majority and remained at the top till last month.

As long as the people did not drive him out of Sri Lanka in rebellion arising out of the economic crisis in the country for his failure to pay the dues of foreign currency. And India has given an important message to the members of SAARC by supporting Sri Lanka in this hour of crisis. Especially in Nepal, Maldives and Bangladesh, where China’s influence is increasing continuously in the last two decades.

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