After Bangladesh crisis, is India now resetting its ties in southern neighbourhood?

New Delhi has stayed away from talking to the other side, as it could have had the potential of ‘interfering in the internal affairs’ of those countries Two high-level Indian visits to as many neighbours in the southern Indian Ocean, and it is business as usual for New Delhi in South Asia after the whirlwind mass protests that toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh. It was so when circumstances necessitated India as the regional power, with regional responsibilities going beyond national boundaries, to step in and fund Sri Lanka’s recovery, starting with the immediate supply of food, fuel, medicines, and whatever it required for the Colombo dispensation to overcome the dollar crunch that was at the centre of the import shortages since two years back. Apart from addressing Sri Lanka’s immediate concerns on the food, fuel, and fiscal fronts, New Delhi took the unprecedented step of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman personally arguing Colombo’s case for a bailout package with the IMF bosses during a regular visit to their Washington headquarters. Gateway to landmass Independent of the presidential poll results in Sri Lanka, current indications are that bilateral ties, especially in the economic sphere, will strengthen on the lines outlined in the ‘Vision Statement’ and the MoUs signed between the two sides during last year’s New Delhi visit by President Wickremesinghe.