Sri Lanka facing 'very serious' crisis, India worried: Jaishankar
Premium- Foreign Minister Jaishankar said Sri Lanka is facing a very serious crisis and India is naturally 'worried'
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said in an all-party meet on Tuesday that Sri Lanka is under a very serious crisis and India is naturally "worried". Briefing the Members of Parliament, Jaishankar also dismissed suggestions about such a situation arising in India.
Apart from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, the all-party meet was also attended by P Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Sharad Pawar and T R Baalu and MM Abdulla of the DMK.
M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (MDMK) were among those who attended the meeting.
On the situation in Sri Lanka, Jaishankar said, "The reason we took the initiative to request you all to join an all-party meeting was...this is a very serious crisis and what we are seeing in Sri Lanka is in many ways an unprecedented situation."
"It is a matter which pertains to a very close neighbour and given the near proximity, we naturally worry about the consequences, the spillover it has for us," he added.
Jaishankar also said there have seen some "misinformed comparisons" in the context of Sri Lanka wherein some have asked if "such a situation can happen in India".
“Naturally the level of concern, as well as the worry that there would be spillover to India, is there. If there is instability in any neighbouring country or any violence, that is a matter of deep concern to us," he said.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis, with a severe foreign exchange shortage hampering the import of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines, triggering protests against the government across the country.
Acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country, while Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was the President, has fled the country. He resigned after arriving in Singapore.
Meanwhile, all Opposition parties (at the all-party meeting) objected to the mention of the financial condition of the Indian states in a meeting on Sri Lanka. They asked why not mention what the Central government is borrowing.
TRS sources told news agency ANI: "We strongly objected to the mention of state borrowings. Why not what the Centre is borrowing? Why bring politics into this? The BJP office, through its political motives, has highlighted the Telangana fiscal issues."
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