Sri Lanka must prepare to welcome Narendra Modi as India’s next Prime Minister

By Shenali D Waduge
LankaWeb.com
December 13, 2013

 We acknowledge the support of Dr. Subramaniam Swamy over the years for being the sole Indian voice against LTTE in support of Sri Lanka’s role to eliminate LTTE terrorism. We are glad he is a key member of the winning team steering Mr. Modi to take over India in 2014 as its Prime Minister. It is time India had a leader and not a puppet. The rehearsal results from the Lok Sabha elections reveal the gory truth for Congress and its posterboy candidate – he is no match for Gujarat’s nominee. In Modi, India is likely to take back India into true Indian hands and away from the foreign domination that has dragged India to function as a Western vassal state breeding Indian sepoys following to dictates of Western hegemony and taking India away from its Asian heritage and Hindu identity. In Modi, Asia would like to see India take the role of a true super power in the making, India to function as a leader helping and assisting its South Asian neighbors and not attempting to destabilize them whereby indirectly attracting destability on its own soil because of its shortsightedness and inferiority complexes. India needs to first look inward before drawing any policies at diplomatic level regional and international.

When the name of Modi emerged for candidature as India’s Prime Minister as was to be expected the negative publicity arose not from overseas but from within India. It revealed how India’s media in a country with 80% Hindus has been usurped from Hindus and is controlled by Christian or Islamic international power houses financed by their powerful international lobbies. As was to be expected Modi was branded in nomenclatures that denounced him an extremist, racist, murderer which continue unabated and is part of the campaign that is likely to be one of the weakest to overcome the mounting nationalism amongst Indians to upstage armchair leaders who cave in to pressures from even states like Tamil Nadu given that they have no policy in their policies except dance to the lobbies that fund them. We do not want to see Modi repeat that mistake even for political survival. It simply has degraded the stature of a Prime Minister.

However the powers against Modi has been such that in March 2005 the US denied him visa as Chief Minister citing 2002 riots in Gujarat and this coming from a country that sends unmanned drones that kills dozens of civilians daily the decision becomes amusing more so since US has done a u-turn now that India’s next Prime Minister is definitely likely to be Modi.

However, Modi’s visa denial to US came about not from Muslim lobbies but from US Evangelicals and Indian-expat Evangelicals. Modi’s response to the visa denial was ‘will India also consider what America has done in Iraq when it processes visa applications of Americans coming to India’. A statement unlikely to come from the incumbent PM though.

India’s foreign policy is certainly likely to see a major shift. Currently the Prime Ministers office has decided what foreign policy is and not the country’s External Affairs ministry as seen by the nuclear deal with the US. What the West cannot deny is that Modi has been given the cold shoulder despite Modi being absolved of all guilt of allegations. It is interesting how the US and EU will attempt to cuddle up to Modi now that he is persona non grata and the fact that Obama named Manmohan as one of the 5 leaders US was most close to. What is certain is that US will not quote Manmohan as America’s favorite Indian leader if Modi ends up Prime Minister and US may well have to ask Harvard to re-invite Dr. Swamy to lecture. Modi will see major shifts in reception no sooner his role changes but how true friends they are is what Modi will need to decide upon.

In Sri Lanka’s case the ordinary citizens seriously wonder whether its External Affairs Ministry has ever had a clear policy on India instead of groveling before it when India turns the heat on. We have certainly lacked a pro-active strategy to neutralize South India’s political leverage over the Central Government which has spiraled to appalling levels that has now gone beyond amusement or tolerance. In the times of the ancient Sinhalese kings we may recall that the bonds established with various dynastic rulers of the South enabled Sri Lanka to crush South Indian invaders with South Indian assistance and it showed the level of diplomacy and respect that was shared. Today’s leverage has been nothing beyond bartering Sri Lanka’s strategic assets to keep foreign nations off the hook and not giving Sri Lankas political leadership any headaches beyond which they can domestically handle whereby reducing Sri Lanka to a level that we are left with little else to barter. The people may end up the last resort.

What both India and Sri Lanka need to realize first is that India is in need of a national leader for the Hindus of India are experiencing no different a climate than what the Buddhists of Sri Lanka are currently undergoing. Both feel their heritage is being usurped and the people converting to a totally different culture. The incursions are what both India and Sri Lanka share though both have yet to openly acknowledge the links sufficient to address them. The wise words of Rajiv Malhotra is one that both Indians and Sri Lankans should spend time to listen to.

It is in realizing that Eelam is not meant to be a Hindu Eelaam that the breakthrough will come to secure better ties between both nations and sufficiently put to a close a chapter based on bogus grievances that now needs to close for people to get on with their lives.

India needs to once more belong to Asia, it must renew its ties amongst its neighbors, it must set about a new approach to discourse with Pakistan and realize that there are many nations that enjoy keeping both at loggerheads for such a relationship serves their purpose, India needs to also not get caught to feeling it has to continuously challenge China at the behest of the West. India must regain its lost stature as a nation in Asia and start building bonds with its neighbors and not antagonize them as has been done in the past.

With a new shift in approaches for both nations, the realization and strategy to directly deal with the incursions that prevail India and Sri Lanka could well be on course to a better relationship diplomatically one that will ensure that the healthy dialogue between the central governments does not get usurped by petty politics of state politicians in India and paid puppets in the northern province of Sri Lanka.