How is the relationship of Sri Lanka's new President with India? Doval and Jaishankar met in Delhi 7 months ago

Leftist leader Anura Disanayake has won the Sri Lankan presidential election. He was sworn in as the 9th President of Sri Lanka on Monday. After Disanayake's victory, questions have started arising as to how the relations between India and Sri Lanka will be? Actually, the stance of Anura and his party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is considered to be anti-India and pro-China. Due to which India's concern about regional security may increase.

For the last few months, after the departure of Sheikh Hasina government from Bangladesh, normalizing relations with the interim government is proving to be a challenge for India, at such a time, an anti-India party coming to power in another neighboring country can create problems.

Anti-India history of JVP

Anura Disanayake and his party are considered anti-India. Due to their leftist leanings, they are found to be closer to China. Anura joined JVP in 1987, at that time the anti-India rebellion was at its peak in Sri Lanka. His party has also been opposing the India-Sri Lanka agreement of 1987. However, Anura Disanayake became the head of the party in 2014 and he has been constantly emphasizing on ending corruption. During the election campaign, Anura has also talked about cancelling the wind power project of Adani Group in Sri Lanka, but he has also expressed objection to many Chinese projects going on in Sri Lanka.

Anura and his party believe that there is a lack of transparency in the Hambantota and Colombo Port projects. It is believed that corruption and transparency are big issues for Anura Dissanayake, so instead of cancelling a project, his focus may be on improving it. But whether these improvements will be better from India's point of view or not, it will be known only in the coming time.

What is the stance on relations with India?

In recent times, a change has been seen in Anura Dissanayake's stance towards India. During the election campaign, he had made it clear that he would not allow Sri Lanka's sea, land and airspace to be used against India and regional security. Apart from this, while responding to Prime Minister Modi's congratulatory message, Anura has also said that he is committed to strong relations between the two countries. Anura has written that, 'Together we can work towards increasing cooperation for the benefit of our people and the entire region.'

The change in Dissanayake's stance clearly indicates that he wants to work together with global players including India, especially to improve the economic condition of Sri Lanka, he will have to maintain good relations with India.

Dissanayake's statement after swearing in

Dissanayake has also given positive signals in his first address after the victory. He has said that Sri Lanka cannot remain isolated and needs international cooperation. Dissanayake said that he is not a magician but his aim is to be a part of the collective responsibility of uplifting the country which is facing economic crisis.

Is this the reason for the change in stance?

In fact, the Indian government had started diplomatic efforts even before the presidential elections in Sri Lanka. Anura Disanayake had come to India about 7 months ago on the invitation of the government. Anura had met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval in New Delhi. His visit was seen as a changing attitude of JVP towards India. It is believed that after Anura Disanayake's visit to India, there has been a change in the attitude of his party.

During his meeting with Indian officials, Anura had shown interest in implementing some of India's socio-economic efforts in Sri Lanka. Not only this, after returning to Colombo, he also praised India's role in overcoming the economic crisis of the year 2022.

In fact, when Sri Lanka was facing an economic-political crisis in the year 2022, India provided economic and humanitarian assistance of more than US $ 4.5 billion to Sri Lanka. Not only this, during this time it also supported Sri Lanka's debt restructuring efforts. In such a situation, it will not be easy for any party in Sri Lanka to ignore India's efforts and support.

India gave positive signals

While congratulating Anura Disanayake on her victory in the election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined the importance of Sri Lanka for India. The PM has written that Sri Lanka has a special significance in India's Neighborhood First Policy and Vision Sagar. PM Modi has emphasized on working together for the people and regional benefits of both the countries. Not only this, Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha present in Sri Lanka met Disanayake as soon as her victory was announced and congratulated her.

Overall, it can be said that the Indian government had started diplomatic efforts to improve relations even before the Sri Lankan presidential election, Anura Disanayake's visit to India was a part of those efforts.

After Anura's victory, India has also given congratulations and positive messages, but it depends on Anura Disanayake how she will take the relations with India forward? Because in the last few months, after the change of power in Maldives and Bangladesh, bitterness has been seen in relations with India. On the other hand, Anura's party JVP has a long history of being anti-India, in such a situation it will be difficult to guess what will be the future of relations between Sri Lanka and India in the coming days?