brahmdeep alune
The crisis in Sri Lanka brings to the fore the challenges of neo-colonialism, in which poor countries become enslaved to the economic clutches of the superpowers. It also affects their political sovereignty. The crisis on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty has deepened due to Chinese debt in the name of development.
It has been a popular belief of democratic systems in developing countries that people find happiness by handing over all power to a charismatic leadership. Economic-social backwardness, cultural conflict, political instability and ethnic diversity have been major problems of third world countries. The emergence of an ultrapopular leadership here increases the risk of authoritarianism flourishing.
India’s neighboring country Sri Lanka has been mired in deep trouble with the ruling party’s attempt to maintain a monopoly on power by the ultra-nationalist Rajapaksa family and sideline the opposition. Due to the unprecedented rise in inflation and skyrocketing prices of everyday items, anger and frustration have increased among the people. Its culmination has come to the fore in the form of violence and arson in the country today. Irrespective of the emergency and curfew, people are joining the violent demonstrations. Thus, once again the fear of civil war erupting in Sri Lanka has deepened.
In fact, the Rajapaksa family, which has been in power by suppressing Tamils and religious minorities and promoting Sinhalese nationalism, has been ignoring the core values of democracy for a long time. Democracy is strengthened by advice, coordination and cooperation, while charismatic leadership has the potential to foster hegemonic tendencies.
The Rajapaksa family won the trust of the people by using ultranationalism as a political weapon and later made unilateral agreements with China, bypassing the advice of opposition parties in the national interest. Due to these agreements, the country got entangled in the vicious cycle of economic destitution. The end of the LTTE in Sri Lanka in 2009 saw an unprecedented rise in the popularity of the Rajapaksa family.
Mahinda Rajapaksa strengthened his hold on power by linking Sinhalese nationalism with the identity of Sri Lanka. In this Sinhala-dominated country, anti-Tamil and anti-India policies were the main policies of Rajapaksa and China took advantage of it. The Chinese debt and mismanagement of the Rajapaksa government added to the crisis. This ruined the economy of the country. At present Sri Lanka is buried under heavy debt of China. In such a situation, it is feared that in case of non-payment of debt, China can occupy most of the territory of Sri Lanka.
The Rajapaksa government was pursuing plans to change the country’s economic model. In this, she got entangled in China’s business model of organic farming, ignoring the interests of small farmers. The government banned chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This had a bad effect on the agricultural sector and the agricultural economy went into ruin.
China has also given a loan of billions of dollars to Sri Lanka under its One Belt One Road project. The Parliament also passed the Port City Economic Commission Bill under the influence of the Rajapaksa family. This bill gives special exemption to areas built with the financial help of China. Neither the opposition parties were talked about nor tried to establish a consensus in the country about these laws made in the name of developing special economic zones and attracting foreign investment. Angered by this, opposition parties started mobilizing farmers and people against the policies of the government.
Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party enjoyed wide public support in the country. The main reason for this was the harsh and hateful policies of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his younger brother Gotabhaya towards Tamils. Later Rajapaksa promoted Sinhalese nationalism in Sri Lanka and with the help of this he strengthened his hold on power. The declining popularity of the opposition United National Party strengthened the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka, and the authoritarianism that flourished from here became the cause of the country’s economic ruin.
When people started taking to the streets against the government, the government came down to repression and the effect of this repressive policy was visible in the form of anger of the people. When the president declared a state of emergency, it gave the police the authority to detain people without warrants and shut down social media. The main reason for Sri Lanka’s deteriorating situation is China’s high interest rate. Far from repaying the loan, Sri Lanka has to take more debt even to pay the interest. In such a situation, public welfare schemes have stopped.
It has been observed that China spends almost twice as much money as the US and many other major countries of the world for its financial commitments required for its international development projects. Most of these funds are borrowed from national banks in the form of loans at high interest rate risk. With this amount being given in the name of development, it is difficult to initially predict the extent to which their progress will be affected by the loan.
Despite all the efforts of India, Sri Lanka has been ignoring the fact that cultural and geographical proximity to India proves to be more effective for it from a strategic point of view. China has deep commercial interests in Sri Lanka. The billion-dollar agreement between China and Sri Lanka on the southern sea port of Hambantota was due to Sri Lanka’s policy of ignoring India. There are many Chinese projects going on in Sri Lanka and it has also given a loan of about 150 million dollars to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an important stop in the route of oil imports from the Middle East, so China is interested in investing here.
Strong relations with Sri Lanka are very important for India, both strategically and culturally. Sri Lanka’s instability can also increase the threat to India’s internal security. The Tamils living there have deep ties with India. They have been forced to face persecution in Sri Lanka for many decades. Sri Lankan Tamil refugees persecuted by the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka come to India for refuge and this is bound to affect the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which is historically considered the homeland of Tamils.
The northern part of the island of Sri Lanka is just a few kilometers away from India’s southeast coastline, and the sea travel from Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu to the Jaffna peninsula is easily carried by people every day in small boats. About 20 percent of Sri Lanka’s population are Tamils and they are of Indian origin. These Tamils from the southern Tamil Nadu state of India have a relationship of roti and daughter. India has been and continues to be friendly towards Sri Lanka.
The crisis in Sri Lanka brings to the fore the challenges of neo-colonialism, in which poor countries become enslaved to the economic clutches of the superpowers. It also affects their political sovereignty. The crisis on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka has deepened due to Chinese debt in the name of development. At present, there is a need for the cooperation of the country’s popular cricketers, artists and India along with the all-party government to restore peace in this country.