New Delhi
27 January 2010
For India, the re-election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa would denote
continuity and bring with it a new hope of finding a lasting solution to the ethnic strife in
Sri Lanka.
Within hours of the official declaration of the results, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil
congratulated Mr Rajapaksa and assured him of "India's commitment to further deepen
our relations with Sri Lanka." In her message, she said that India looked forward to
working with him for the mutual benefit of the peoples of the two countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his message, said that President Rajapaksa's
success in the elections was a reflection of the trust the people of Sri Lanka have
reposed in him.
Official circles here said that the result was on expected lines, and a renewed mandate
for Mr Rajapaksa should enable him to come good on his promises of national
reconciliation. New Delhi will be keenly watching the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections
in April to see how quickly President Rajapaksa can evolve a broad consensus for
implementing a devolution package for the Tamil minorities.
For his part, Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India, said that the
results showed that an overwhelming majority of the voters approved of President
Rajapaksa's agenda of social progress and development. "Doomsday prophets have
been proved wrong," Mr Kariyawasam told this newspaper here Wednesday.
A two-third majority for the ruling coalition in the forthcoming parliamentary elections
could hasten the reconciliation process, but even without it, Mr Kariyawasam was
confident that the political reforms can be implemented step by step in consultation with
the parties. He noted that Colombo would focus equally on doubling its per capita income
from 2,200 dollars to 4,400 dollars in the next few years.
Gen Fonseka's campaign managers did their bit to seek out foreign governments, using
the media and social messaging utility such as Twitter to urge the "world [to] intervene",
but a latent fear of Bonapartism ensured that the response, if any, was muted.
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