A Sri Lankan federal minister on Monday alleged that 'certain Indian officials' wanted President Mahinda Rajapaksa to lose the recent polls and worked towards it, but India rejected the claims, saying it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
Minister of Post and Telecommunications Nandana Goonathilake also claimed that the Indian government 'strengthened' Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the country's intelligence agency -- Research and Analysis Wing -- created other militant organisations in the country after realising that Sri Lanka was building good relations with the United States.
"Even at the recent presidential elections, certain Indian officials did not want President Mahinda Rajapaksa to win. Not the Indian government or the Indian prime minister, but certain individuals," he told the Daily Mirror.
"We believe they worked towards defeating the President. That is the way intelligence services work. History shows us that the manner in which governments work is quite different," the minister said in an interview to the paper.
However, India rejected the allegations and said it is "scrupulously known for our non-interference in other's internal affairs."
"I think people make subjective assessments. But objectively speaking and I think if you ask President Mahinda Rajapaksa or anybody, any senior leader in Sri Lanka, they will agree (that India does not interfere in other country's matters)," sources said.
Goonathileke said sometimes the way RAW operates, and the way the government of India operates, are very different.
"We have seen examples of this in the past. RAW has a long-term agenda of how they want relations in the region to progress so as to maintain their dominance in the region,"
Gonnathilake said.
"However, governments change and as governments change, their political motivations also change. But there is a conflict of interest with RAW. This is why I said though the Indian government was for President Rajapaksa, particular officials worked against him," he said.
He also said that at one point, India permitted LTTE training camps to operate in that country.
"It supplied them with arms and finances. Books written by former Indian diplomats, other Indian leaders and local writers have exposed this. It is now a commonly known fact," he said.
The minister said that the short-sighted foreign policy followed by former President J R Jayewardene caused India to become a problem.
"It was because the then government followed a pro-American foreign policy," the minister, who crossed over from the JVP to the ruling coalition a few years ago, said.
"India recognised that Sri Lanka was building very close relations with America and felt that if it continued to do so, it will work against Indian interests. They were therefore forced to intervene," he said.
