Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not known for decisive action. But if he found himself in a Hamlet-like situation for two days before deciding not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo (CHOGM) this week, this had nothing to do with his personality or style of governance. What swayed India's foreign policy establishment were the compulsions of electoral politics. Of course, India is not the only country which faces some hard choices over Sri Lanka. Britain has decided to attend the conclave in the face of stiff resistance from the opposition Labor Party and the Tamil community in UK. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper is boycotting the event. Manmohan Singh is in a much more difficult situation than Harper. The three factors that influence India's Sri Lanka policy are geostrategic considerations (Sri Lanka is a close neighbor), regional politics and the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka, though not necessarily always in that order. Right now the decisive factor is the Indian general elections scheduled for next year. The Tamil community in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu share close religious, ethnic and linguistic affinity with their brethren in Sri Lanka. No Tamil politician, whether belonging to regional parties or national parties like Congress and BJP, wants to be seen insensitive to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. To put the record straight, there have been too many developments since the early eighties to cause disquiet to the Tamils in India, with Tamil Nadu-based Dravidian parties making strident demands for stronger action against Sri Lanka. There was systematic discrimination against Tamils in employment and education after the island nation won independence from Britain. Once the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) became a formidable force and changed the shape of the ethnic conflict, Tamils were allegedly targeted by the majority Sinhalese and the security forces. Tamil Tigers were the first to introduce suicide bombing. Their high-profile assassination victims included Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and three Tamil mayors. Tamils in Sri Lanka and their supporters in Tamil Nadu say the complete route of LTTE has not brought an end to the Tamil suffering. According to them, violation of the human rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka continues uninterrupted. The Colombo government is also refusing to give more powers to its ethnic Tamils. As was only to be expected, Singh has been under tremendous pressure from within the Congress as well as Tamil parties to skip the Nov. 15-17 meeting to register New Delhi's protest. With Tamil parties competing with one another to speak up for Tamils across the Palk Strait, the Congress Party seems to have lost its nerve and allowed the initiative to pass into the hands of Dravidian parties. In short, the ruling Congress has forsaken India's long-term interests for short-term electoral gains. This is very unfortunate. India is a regional heavyweight and a very important member of the Commonwealth and as such should be represented by the prime minister, not foreign minister. If India's internal politics stands against warm ties with Sri Lanka until at least 2014 and probably beyond, the Tamils will be the biggest losers. As British Prime Minister David Cameron said, the right thing to do is “to engage and shine the international spotlight” on the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
