Doval's questionable regional stock taking

Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit [ont recently declared ‘poor governance’ led to uprisings that resulted in change of governments in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka over the past three-and-a-half years.

- By SHAMINDRA FERDINANDO

Gotabaya Rajapaksa meets Ajith Doval in mid-January, 2020, in Colombo ahead of the Covid-19 eruption, and economic crisis, a year later

Doval said so delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on governance on the occasion of the National Unity Day on Friday (31 October, 2025). Doval mentioned the countries in that order though the first overthrowing of a government in the region took place in Sri Lanka (2022), Bangladesh (2024) followed by Nepal (2025).

Doval refrained from making reference to Pakistan where Premier Imran Khan was ousted in April 2022 ahead of the violent toppling of the government in Sri Lanka, which began with the violence outside the private residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at Mirihana, in the previous month.

Imran Khan earned the wrath of the US for going ahead with a planned visit to Moscow, regardless of the Russian offensive against Kiev. Former Bangladeshi Cabinet Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury recently told RT, in an exclusive interview that Hasina’s refusal to condemn Russia over the February 2022 military action angered the US. According to him, Dhaka’s refusal to condemn Russia had been one of the reasons for the 2024 uprising.

Why did Doval wait so long to blame it all on the respective governments? Doval assertion cannot be his own, but the collective servile stand, or thinking, to please the West by the Narendra Modi government once again. Surprisingly, Doval’s debatable statement hadn't received any swift response from any individual, or political party here, though the top Indian official’s declaration required no holds barred discussion.