A sacred geography

PM Modi’s second visit to Sri Lanka must help restore deeper cultural connect between the two nations

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi’s second visit to Sri Lanka in two years would hopefully launch a productive new phase in bilateral relations. In his first visit during March 2015, Modi promised to end India’s prolonged neglect of the very special relationship with Sri Lanka. Many reasons, including narrow domestic political considerations of previous governments, led to Delhi’s monumental errors in dealing with Colombo.

This had huge costs — in terms of generating a trust deficit and entrenched negative perceptions of India as a regional bully, insensitive to Lankan nationalism and sovereignty. Since the first visit, there has been an intensification of sustained high-level political engagement with Lanka. The Modi government also put new emphasis on expanding economic engagement with Sri Lanka.

Delhi’s new commercial possibilities in Lanka were highlighted by the expansive MOU on economic cooperation that was signed during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to Delhi last month. The MOU identified many major projects, including infrastructure projects relating to ports and the energy and transportation sectors. Delhi is trying to change the perception that India does not have the will or the capability to undertake and implement large projects in the neighbourhood.

To be sure, there is some political backlash in Lanka against India’s new economic activism. Delhi can only overcome this resistance, part-genuine and part-simulated, through patience and sustained engagement. Above all, Delhi must address the deep sense of nationalist hurt in Colombo that has arisen from India’s intervention in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs over recent decades. Delhi now appreciates the importance of being seen as a well-wisher helping to promote reconciliation after a brutal civil war in Lanka, and not an external demandeur on its internal political arrangements.

Modi has also sought to restore the deeper cultural connect between the two nations as part of his effort to go past the divisive discourse of the last few decades and rebuild