Dilrook Kannangara

Every political party in Sri Lanka has an Indian specialist. Managing India is crucially important for all political parties in the island. SLPP has Basil, UNP has Sagala, TNA, SLMC, CWC have a few of them, JVP has Vijitha and SJB has its own.

Compared to all of them, SJB’s India expert is way more educated, has contacts around the world, experienced and has a good understanding of how diplomacy works. When compared to him others are dwarfs when it comes to managing India.

However, he is facing a major dilemma because India under Modi is a different thing compared to India before Modi. Unlike past Indian PMs, Modi is an ultra-nationalist and an extremist Hindu communalist. Modi’s anti-Muslim rantings, past and current action are well known and loathed in Muslim countries. Arabic and other Muslim majority countries shun Modi for this reason. On the other hand, SJB’s India expert has cultivated excellent relations with all Muslim countries”. They came to help Sri Lanka at the UNHRC although that didn’t quite help defeat UNHRC resolutions against Sri Lanka. SJB’s India expert has to either lose Modi (India) or his friends in Muslim countries”. Further, this expert also made friends in many leftist regimes around the world. They too shun Modi for his tribalistic views. Additionally, his few liberal friends around the world also shun Modi and his band of extremists. He cannot see eye to eye with his old friends on the Modi debacle. It makes him unsuitable to be the India expert of the SJB.

This adds more pressure on the SJB India expert to quit or suppress his conscience.

Due to all these reasons, his worth to the party has seriously eroded. SJB needs another India expert who has no such old and excess baggage and who can work with today’s India which is Modi’s India.

As Sri Lanka heads to polls and parties scramble to put forward manifestoes carefully crafted to be acceptable to India, a reshuffle of their Indian affairs experts is expected. Having been a close friend of SJB leader’s fathers simply doesn’t cut it. Where will this expert end up next? Or will he bury his conscience?