RAW agent and poll

Sri Lanka is no banana republic and one can certainly rule out any foreign agency meddling in its political affairs and engineering a coup (“

>Sri Lankan election won by the people, not by RAW ,” Jan.19). That its democracy is alive and well has been proven from the manner in which a powerful President incurred the electoral wrath of his people. It was a change “engineered” by democracy and by the minorities. President Sirisena won the election with the spontaneous support of all sections of Sri Lankans. It shows that the time has come for India to adopt open diplomacy and rebuild relations with Sri Lanka.

K. Bala Sundaram,

Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu

The adage is “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush”, but its reverse is what caused the stunning electoral defeat of Mr. Rajapaksa. Whatever be the truth about the charge of “Indian interference” in the island-nation’s election through its external intelligence agency RAW, Mr. Rajapaksa’s defeat was self-inflicted. When he had two full years more in office, it was his growing concern over steadily losing his popularity that led to his becoming dictatorial and then turning a blind eye to the plight of the minorities. His hobnobbing with China was detrimental too. This being the state of foreign affairs, it is not surprising that an enraged, close neighbour who helped him uproot a deadly terror organisation might have acted in its own national interest.

American, Russian and Israeli intelligence regularly interfere in the affairs of hostile regimes. India’s RAW agents stationed in world capitals cannot be doing anything different.

Thongath Raju,

Secunderabad