India denied playing any role in the internal political process in Sri Lanka and promised to continue supporting the people of the neighbouring island nation, where Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected as the new president on Wednesday.
Just before the voting took place in Parliament of Sri Lanka for election of the new president, the High Commission of India in Colombo took to Twitter to deny media reports about its role in influencing the political process in the cash-strapped Indian Ocean nation.
“We have seen baseless and purely speculative media reports about efforts at political level from India to influence political leaders in Sri Lanka regarding elections in the Sri Lankan Parliament to the post of the President of Sri Lanka,” New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Colombo tweeted. “We categorically deny these media reports”.
India is keen to avoid being seen interfering in the political process in Sri Lanka as it wants to ensure that the strategic space it could wrest from China in the Indian Ocean nation over the past few months and the goodwill its assistance to the country generated were not squandered away.
The High Commission of India in Colombo over the past few weeks also denied speculations about New Delhi sending troops to Sri Lanka to deal with the political and social unrest caused by severe economic crisis or helping former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leave the country in the wake of public fury against him.
Though India’s ties with Sri Lanka remained more or less free from stress during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s earlier tenures in the office of the prime minister in Colombo, New Delhi’s first reaction to his election to the office of the president of the neighbouring country was measured on Wednesday.
The HCI in Colombo tweeted after Wickremesinghe was elected to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who of late stepped down amid growing call for his resignation by the protesters slamming his government’s failing to steer Sri Lanka out of the crisis. It noted that Parliament of Sri Lanka, in exercise of the provisions of the constitution of the country, had elected him as the president of the country.
“As a close friend and neighbour of Sri Lanka and a fellow democracy, we will continue to be supportive of the quest of the people of Sri Lanka for stability and economic recovery, through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework,” tweeted New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Colombo.
Wickremesinghe’s fifth tenure in the office of Sri Lankan prime minister ended in November 2019 as the Rajapaksa Clan returned to power. Gotabaya appointed his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister. He, however, had to reappoint Wickremesinghe as the prime minister on May 12 last after resignation of Mahinda in the wake of protest against the “Rajapaksa Clan''. The protesters continued to demand the resignation of Wickremesinghe, even after his election as the new president.
New Delhi has so far provided assistance worth over $3.8 billion this year to help cash-strapped Sri Lanka and also sent consignments of food, fuel, medicines, fertilizers and other essentials.