INDO-LANKA TIES: GOVT DROPS IDEOLOGICAL RIGIDITY, EMBRACES REALITY

AS THE DISSANAYAKE ADMINISTRATION SHEDS DECADES OF IDEOLOGICAL RIGIDITY, A NEW ERA OF ASYMMETRIC COOPERATION WITH NEW DELHI EMERGES, FORGED IN THE CRUCIBLE OF ECONOMIC AND NATURAL DISASTERS

- By Kelum Bandara

The government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake... has chosen to press ahead with the agenda initiated by its predecessor, and in some respects to take it further

The election of the JVP-led government was once feared as a potential frost in Indo-Lanka relations, yet the reality has proven remarkably different. Driven by the twin pressures of IMF-mandated reforms and the devastating wake of Cyclone Ditwah, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has embraced a foreign policy defined by strategic necessity. By maintaining continuity in engagement and accepting massive Indian aid, Colombo has signaled that economic survival now outweighs historical skepticism

The 2022 economic crisis brought about a change in Sri Lanka's economic and foreign policy directions. Sri Lanka, as a country, sought to follow a reform agenda under the supervision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which offered a bailout package. Foreign relations were tailored accordingly, with major powers playing their role in restructuring the country's external debt. India emerged in this picture as a responder. New Delhi's sustained engagement in the difficult period that followed became a key element in Sri Lanka's post-crisis recovery narrative.

It is against this backdrop that Sri Lanka's new political moment unfolds. The government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, anchored by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), is a historic phenomenon.

For decades, before its ascent to the centre of governance, the JVP was viewed-both domestically and externally-as deeply sceptical of India, shaped by a political discourse that warned against what it termed "Indian expansionism." Upon election to office, the government has chosen to press ahead with the agenda initiated by its predecessor, and in some respects to take it further. It opted to build on the economic reform programme undertaken with the IMF during the previous administration.