Manoj Joshi’s column – With understanding and patience we are improving relations with our neighbours | मनोज जोशी का कॉलम: सूझबूझ और धैर्य से हम अपने पड़ोसियों से रिश्ते सुधार रहे हैं

Manoj Joshi expert on foreign affairs

India is working hard to strengthen its neighborhood policy. New Delhi is getting successes due to strategic restraint and patience. We have managed to stabilize our relations with Nepal even though Nepal is led by pro-Beijing KP Sharma Oli.

At the same time, we are working hard to ensure that our relations with Bangladesh do not deteriorate. But the best indicator of success has been the Maldives. Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu has visited India on his first visit after assuming power in November 2023.

In the recent past he had raised the slogan of ‘India-Out’. This January, Muizzu had ordered the removal of about 80 Indian military personnel. Maldives had also canceled a hydrographic survey agreement which was signed to help India in mapping Maldivian waters.

Muizzu traveled to Turkey and China, ignoring New Delhi, but soon realized that he could not do without India. In June, he was one of the leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi for his third term.

In August, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar visited Maldives and helped improve relations. The purpose of Muizzu’s current visit is to rescue Maldives from the economic crisis. In September, SBI had extended its subscription of $50 million of its treasury bills by another year at the request of the Maldives government.

Maldives’ foreign exchange reserves stood at $440 million in September, which was enough for 6 weeks of imports. But last month Moody’s downgraded Maldives’ credit rating. Maldives’ public debt is approximately $8 billion, which includes approximately $1.4 billion of debt owed to both India and China.

While India showed interest in discussing the issue, China has not come forward and has not provided relief to Maldives. The factor of Indian tourists is also important for the economic health of Maldives. Due to last year’s controversies, tourist numbers dropped by 50,000, causing a loss of $150 million.

Another important development was Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has visited Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has recently elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as the ninth acting President of Sri Lanka. The JVP, founded in the 1960s, has a Marxist and Sinhala-nationalist ideology and has led two insurgencies in Sri Lanka.

Since 1994 he has renounced violence. It was seen as a minor party until the economic crisis of 2022 and the Aragalaya movement – ​​which led to the removal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the presidency.

India had actively supported the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe who replaced Gotabaya. Due to the loan of $4 billion given by India to Sri Lanka, it was able to bargain for a package of $3 billion from the IMF.

But in the elections held in Sri Lanka last month, Wickremesinghe could not even get 20 percent of the votes, although he had managed to stabilize the financial condition of his country. Sri Lankan voters have chosen little-known AKD to bring much-needed change to the country.

In February this year, when AKD was an opposition MLA, he was invited to visit New Delhi with the JVP delegation. This was the first time that a JVP leader was invited by India. By that time it was clear that JVP could emerge victorious in the elections.

While we have managed to stabilize our relations with Nepal, we are also working hard to ensure that our relations with Bangladesh do not deteriorate. But the best indicator of success has been the Maldives.

(These are the author’s own views)