Fortunately for Sri Lanka, the Indian High Commissioner was in Delhi when Cyclone ‘Ditwah’ hit. He held discussions with the Indian government and arranged for emergency assistance to be provided to Sri Lanka as soon as the cyclone struck.
Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha is a seasoned and clever diplomat. Always smiling, he is not a controversial figure like some Indian High Commissioners of the past. He maintains close relations with the NPP government and recently coordinated the opposition leader’s visit to India. He also went to meet Mahinda Rajapaksa when the former president was removed from his official residence. It appears that he is trying to portray himself as a balanced personality in the Sri Lankan political network.
During the cyclone in Sri Lanka, his coordination in Delhi enabled Indian Prime Minister Modi to use his ‘Maha Sagar’ concept to help Sri Lanka. Modi unveiled his ‘Maha Sagar’ vision during a visit to Mauritius last March by signing several agreements with that country. The ‘Maha Sagar’ vision was built on the SAGAR doctrine, which was launched in 2015 to guide India’s engagement with the Indian Ocean region. The statement issued by Modi in Mauritius reads as follows:
“We have taken the SAGAR vision forward for the stability and prosperity of this entire region. Today, taking it forward, I would like to say that our vision for the Global South will be beyond SAGAR—it (will be) Mahasagar, that is, ‘Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions”.
One of the objectives of Modi’s Maha Sagar concept is to provide emergency assistance in the event of a natural disaster. Modi first tested it in Sri Lanka. When he announced this Maha Sagar concept, Sri Lanka was among the countries that would benefit from it. These countries included the Maldives, Seychelles, and Mauritius.
Modi seems to prefer soft diplomacy over hard diplomacy to lead the region. His ‘Vaccine Maitri’ humanitarian mission during the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge success in the region. At that time, Sri Lanka was in a desperate situation. Modi spoke to the then-President Gotabaya over the phone. Under the Vaccine Maitri concept, he donated a large quantity of vaccines to Sri Lanka.
When Sri Lanka was in economic crisis, India immediately provided 4 billion US dollars in aid to Sri Lanka. After Gotabaya left and Ranil became President, India was the first country to agree to debt restructuring to enable Sri Lanka to receive IMF installment.
It remains to be seen how Modi’s Maha Sagar concept will compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
