Bilateral ties broke down post 2014, says Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka’s opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said there was a “major breakdown” in bilateral relationship between India and his country after a new government was formed in New Delhi in 2014, but the opposition coalition he is heading now has a “good understanding” with India’s ruling party.

He emphasised that the rule of thumb with regard to India-Sri Lanka relations should be that if an outgoing government has an adequate working relationship with his country, the incoming one should give due recognition to this.

“Past experience has shown that the danger of disruption in our bilateral relationship arises in the immediate aftermath of changes in government. Such easily avoidable disruptions have had serious consequences for both countries,” he said.

“In 2014, the second major breakdown of bilateral relationships took place. Unfortunately, the working relationship that existed between my government and the outgoing government (UPA) was not carried over to the new government of India (NDA),” he said during a thought enclave organised here.

Rajapakasa said the misunderstandings of the 1980s and 2014 were aberrations that could easily have been avoided and it is important the two countries evolve a mechanism to prevent these misunderstandings from arising.

The traditional government-to-government dealings alone cannot give shape to the two countries’ future relations because the world is becoming more complex by the day, he said.

Tangibles like these are easier to monitor and even control, but intangibles pose grave threats, Rajapaksa said. “Political leaders and other societal leaders must always keep a tab on theintangibles. For instance, a wrong word from aleader would sour the relations as we have witnessed in the past.”

“Despite the snag of 2014, the opposition coalition that I am leading now in SL has a good understanding with the ruling party in India,” he said, adding that since the two countries aregeographically in very close proximity, they have mutual obligation to ensure each other’s security.

“Often, we have heard the Indian leaders emphasizing the need for Sri Lanka to ensure that the Sri Lankan soil is not used by any third party that would pose a threat to India. Similarly, we too would want India to ensure that any groups operating within Indian soil does not pose a threat to Sri Lanka,” he said.

Rajapaksa was controversially appointed PM by President Sirisena in October last year. However, the Supreme Court later restored Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM.