Sri Lankans can say no to bridge without insulting India
by Rajan Philips-October 10, 2015
The paper storm over a bridge too near, across the Palk Strait, shows all the small-country anxieties in the geopolitical dynamic involving two neighbouring countries, one big and the other small. To wit, the US and Canada; Australia and New Zealand; Malaysia and Singapore; European Union and Britain, to some extent; China and Taiwan; Sweden and its smaller neighbours; and of course India and Sri Lanka. What is unique to the Indo-Sri Lankan dynamic is its huge atavistic dimension – the false burden of history weighing down modern realities. There is more. Along with the weight of ancient history,there are also falsification of history, ignorance, prejudices, and the absence of objective considerations. They are all part of the political paper storm that is being stirred up to blow away a potential bridge even before it could be sketched on the drawing board, let alone be built across the strait. It is fair and of course necessary to question the undertaking of any major infrastructure facility in terms of its need and justification, as well its total (direct, indirect and environmental) costs and benefits. But the pre-emptive protests against a potential Palk Strait bridge seem to be over-the-top anti-Indian rhetoric that is not conducive to rational decision making or good neighbourliness.