India refutes reports that it is sending troops to Sri Lanka

The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa have been speculated since his resignation on Monday

Though a tweet by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and former parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy fuelled speculations about India sending troops to Sri Lanka, New Delhi on Wednesday made it clear that it had no such plan and that it would continue to support democracy in the neighbouring Indian Ocean nation.

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The High Commission of India in Colombo tweeted to deny “speculative reports in sections of media and social media” about New Delhi sending troops to Sri Lanka, where President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reiterated that all efforts would be made “to restore political stability through consensus, within constitutional mandate and to resolve economic crisis”.

A source in New Delhi said that India had no plan to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and, as a close neighbour, would like to see the return of stability through consensus and democratic process so that the Indian Ocean nation could return to the path of economic recovery.

New Delhi had on Tuesday denied reports about Gotabaya’s brother Mahinda Rajapaksa fleeing to India with his family after resigning as prime minister of Sri Lanka the previous day – amid widespread protest against the failure of the government to manage the economic crisis.

“India must send in the Indian Army to restore Constitutional sanity. At present anti-Indian foreign forces are taking advantage of people’s anger. This affects India’s national security,” Swamy posted on Twitter and then clarified in another tweet: “Yes, in Sri Lanka”. He followed it up with a few other tweets stating that unrest in Sri Lanka were of concerns for national security of India. He also argued that protecting the Rajapaksa Clan was in the national interest of India.

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His tweets fuelled speculation in Sri Lanka about India might indeed sent to the neighbouring Indian Ocean nation as the protest against the failure of the government led by Rajapaksa Clan turned violent.

New Delhi reacted quickly and dissociated itself from its tweets of Swamy. Without specifically referring to the BJP leader’s tweets, the High Commission of India in Colombo clarified on the micro-blogging site that “such views” were not in keeping with the position of the Government of India. It reiterated the statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, stating that India was fully supportive of Sri Lanka's “democracy, stability and economic recovery”.

India issued the back-to-back denials on Tuesday and Wednesday – apparently in order to dissociate itself from the Rajapaksa Clan, which found itself at the receiving end of public ire in the wake of the economic crisis.