Neighbours watch as India’s coalition government takes charge

Indian elections were closely watched in the neighbourhood. Leaders of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Seychelles, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Nepal, and Bhutan were in New Delhi for Sunday’s swearing in ceremony, as they witnessed the new government — formed by a diminished BJP that relies on coalition partners for a parliamentary majority — being sworn in. Here’s cartoonist Mika Aziz’s take on “Modi 3.0” Given that New Delhi does not formally recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, or the military regime in Myanmar, and does not maintain any high-level engagement with Islamabad, the grouping did not represent the entire neighbourhood, but only the countries in India’s “comfort zone”, Suhasini Haidar reports. While Mr. Modi has called for “deeper people-to-people ties and connectivity in the region”, people in neighbouring countries evaluate India’s engagement based on many factors, not just financial assistance driven mostly by geopolitical insecurity. The Sri Lankan government did not object to his claim, but the media and civil society hit out at the statement, with one editorial noting “Lanka desires to be left to its own devices away from India’s internal politics.” Meanwhile, as the world keenly followed elections in the world’s largest democracy, a parliamentary committee report in Canada described India as “the second-biggest foreign threat” to the country’s democracy.” Kallol Bhattacherjee writes on the development.