A diplomatic parippu drop

Editorial-November 11, 2013, 7:49 pm 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, her arch-enemy M. Karunanidhi and others of their ilk must be painting the town red. They have scored another impressive win against Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh has capitulated to their call for skipping CHOGM in Colombo.

Prime Minister Singh need not have dilly-dallied for weeks; he could have announced his decision much earlier. Not many Sri Lankans expected him to come here anyway. He finds himself in the exalted company of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who, too, gave in to pro-LTTE groups expecting their votes in return for his CHOGM boycott. British Premier David Cameron, who is also thirsting for votes, would have followed suit if not for the fact that Britain is dependent on the wellbeing of the Commonwealth more than others to further its interests and, therefore, cannot afford to boycott a summit of heads of government.

In 1987, the Indian air force dropped parippu (dhal) on Jaffna to intimidate Sri Lanka into submission during a crucial military operation against the LTTE. That marked the beginning of a process which culminated in the creation of provincial councils. PM Singh’s decision to skip CHOGM could be considered a diplomatic parippu drop aimed at coercing Colombo into toeing India’s line, especially where devolution of powers is concerned.

In dealing with Sri Lanka, India has always let its domestic political compulsions take precedence over its foreign policy regardless of the consequences of its action. In 1987, in a bid to placate its Tamil Nadu allies, it resorted to a condemnable intervention which paved the way for a blood bath here. But for the Indo-Lanka Accord Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi rammed down JRJ’s ageing throat the JVP would not have been able to stage its second uprising which snuffed out thousands of lives; the LTTE would not have got a new lease of life to unleash mindless terror for two more decades.

It is being argued in some quarters that India keeps tightening diplomatic screws on Sri Lanka to the extent of its PM refusing to visit Colombo so to make the Rajapaksa government honour its commitment to the 13th Amendment. But, a better strategy would have been for PM Singh to attend CHOGM and take up issues related to devolution etc with President Rajapaksa in Colombo itself. He could also have visited the North. That way he would have been able to beard the lion in his den while, at the same time, denying Jayalalithaa et al the pleasure of holding the Centre to ransom.

Now that PM Singh has obsequiously yielded to pressure from Tamil Nadu in view of next year’s general election, he is without any moral right to urge the Rajapaksa government to go at full tilt to devolve more powers to provinces in the teeth of stiff resistance from some of its coalition partners.

Internationally, the Sri Lankan government may face some embarrassment when the leader of a neighbouring country does grace the Colombo summit. But, domestically, President Rajapaksa will be in a position to use PM Singh’s capitulation to the whims and fancies of pro-LTTE politicians in Tamil Nadu to bolster his claim that though the war ended about four and a half years ago, external threats to Sri Lanka are far from over and, therefore, he needs another term to defend the country’s hard-won peace.