Mahinda Rajapaksa's return to power in Sri Lanka a worry for India

The return of Mahinda Rajapaksa to power in Sri Lanka has been the subject of speculation for some time. The question was when and how.

In 2015, India lent its influence to broker a coalition between Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe to remove Rajapaksa from office. This came after Rajapaksa had given China strategic entry into Sri Lanka, by leasing out Hambantota port to them, allowing them to build Colombo port, allowing China to dock its submarines in Sri Lanka and generally allowing Sri Lanka to become a poster child for China’s famed “debt trap diplomacy”.

In the past three months as trouble grew within Lanka’s ruling alliance, all three key players have stopped by Delhi to lobby for Indian support. The latest was Ranil Wickremesinghe who arrived to meet Modi last week, days after Sirisena had dramatically accused RAW of trying to assassinate him.


Sirisena himself met Modi for a long chat on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Nepal. In September, Rajapaksa himself came to India on an invite by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who, on Friday, just stopped short of claiming credit for Rajapakse’s return. During both his visits to Sri Lanka, Modi made time for Rajapaksa, which was surprising. But even before his recent visit, Rajapaksa sent G L Peiris, former foreign minister, to India to mend ties. India has reason to worry about Rajapaksa’s return and China has reason to feel a sense of anticipation. Rajapaksa’s tenure saw China taking a big chunk of South Asia from India’s sphere of influence.

The old anti-India rhetoric has made its way back into Sri Lankan discourse recently. Last week, Mahinda Samarasinghe, ports minister declared they would not hand over Eastern Container Terminal to India, in contravention of a 2017 agreement.