MODI COMES, MODI GOES

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded a three-day visit to Sri Lanka last week, his fourth visit to the country and the first since the election of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the JVP-led NPP government.

- By Ranga Jayasuriya

In some ways, the trip — right for the JVP, whose ideologue Nalin de Silva, Rohana Wijeweera, conducted must-attend classes for the party cadres about the danger of “Indian Expansionism”. Those youngsters then, who survived the state counter-terror unleashed against their equally nihilistic terror campaign in 88-89, are now the much-venerated old guard of the party.

PM Modi’s visit illustrates how far Sri Lanka — in its grand pieces — was transformed from its past. It is also because the shift of the JVP’s transformation — mainstream politics is a great driver of socialisation. In Sri Lanka, PM Modi signed a host of agreements, including the first-ever defence cooperation agreement between the two countries — the Modi-led India formalised joint military exercises, information exchange, technological transfer, training programmes, and high-level exchanges.

The defence cooperation agreement is somewhat symbolic and institutionalises the cooperation between the two countries in areas where they already cooperate. However, it could serve as a first step in a broader framework of future defence cooperation. The agreement essentially puts India on alert in Sri Lanka’s security, which could alleviate, at least in part, the perennial Indian anxieties over expanding Chinese influence in the island nation.