‘Silent like rats’: Rajapaksa says India not vocal about Chinese influence in SL | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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‘Silent like rats’: Rajapaksa says India not vocal about Chinese influence in SL

Colombo | ByPTI
Dec 29, 2016 09:39 PM IST

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed on Thursday that India was now “silent” on growing Chinese influence in the island nation but the neighbour country was more vocal on the issue during his administration.

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed on Thursday that India was now “silent” on growing Chinese influence in the island nation but the neighbour country was more vocal on the issue during his administration.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was the sixth President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. He served from 19 November 2005 to 9 January 2015.(AP File Photo)
Mahinda Rajapaksa was the sixth President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. He served from 19 November 2005 to 9 January 2015.(AP File Photo)

“All my Indian friends were shouting against me when Chinese submarines came to Colombo port. But now they are silent like rats,” he said, addressing foreign correspondents.

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Asked on what basis he can claim that Indians were no longer worried about Chinese influence in Lanka, Rajapkasa said, “They were openly expressing it then.”

He said he stands opposed to the Chinese being given 15,000 acres in his hometown of Hambantota for an industrial park.

“We welcome the industrial park but 15,000 acres would be too much,” he said.

He thought India might also be waiting to see if the Trincomalee harbour or the Palaly airport in the north may be given to them by the Maithripala Sirisena government.

Rajapaksa said India, which had backed him in the war against the LTTE, was influenced by the US to work against him.

“I wanted them to come (actively support the military campaign) they did not because of the South Indian attitude,” Rajapaksa said.

Rajapaksa alleged his ouster was due to a sustained campaign by the West, India’s RAW and others that had stared two years before the 2015 January presidential election, which he called two years ahead of schedule.

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