March 15, 2015, 10:11 pm
By Norman Palihawadane
Opposing Indian expansionism was the reason why the Mahinda Rajapaksa government was ousted,
former Minister of Disaster Management and Hambantota District UPFA MP Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday.
In a brief interview with The Island the former minister said the then government resisted India’s interference with Sri Lanka’s internal affairs and believed in home-grown solutions to the
country’s problems. "We wanted to solve our own problems without being a puppet in the hands of region’s Big Brother. We forged strong relations with China for that purpose and that
cost us state power," MP Amaraweera said.
"We extended a warm welcome to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came here as a guest of ours and appreciate his commitment to strengthening Indo-Lanka relations, but on no ground can we countenance India’s interference with our domestic affairs."
The MP admitted that the previous government’s foreign policy should have been balanced. "We see the incumbent government is doing the opposite and it is too early to predict repercussions of this new trend," he said adding that being servile to India would lead to more problems for Sri Lanka.
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