The Centre told the all-party meeting on the situation in Sri Lanka that “fiscal prudence and responsible governance” are the lessons the country has to learn from the crisis in the neighbouring country and that there should not be a “culture of freebies”.
Addressing the meeting on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also clarified that India had not in any way “facilitated” former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s exit from Sri Lanka to the Maldives and then to Singapore, saying that this was decided by those countries. However, he said that no other country has supported Sri Lanka as India has in terms of food, fuel, medicines and other essentials. Mr. Jaishankar also denied that any formal request had been made for help earlier, when asked about whether India’s assistance had been “too little too late”, referring to a report in The Hindu from Colombo 2020. In an interview to The Hindu, former Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had said that he had requested India for a debt deferral during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2020.
While supporting the government’s moves to help Sri Lanka, the opposition took objection to a presentation by officials that sought to show a comparison of the economic situation in various Indian States.
