In what many see as a new chapter in the vital Indo-Sri Lanka relationship, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives here today for a packed two-day visit—the first official state visit by an Indian leader since Rajiv Gandhi came here in July 1987 with the circumstances then being highly controversial if not explosive.  

Mr. Modi, widely hailed as one of India’s most powerful leaders and a potential game changer in bilateral and international issues, comes today with the Palk Strait much calmer despite the poaching battle. In Sri Lanka also the new Yahapalanaya National Unity Government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has within two months taken practical steps to put Indo-Lanka ties on a stronger foundation for the common good of both countries. Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera took the first step when he visited India a few days after he was sworn in. Mr. Sirisena—who was virtually a nowhere man till he dramatically crossed over from the SLFP on November 21 last year  and led the New Democratic Front coalition  to a peaceful rainbow revolution on January 8 -  also took a vital step to rebuild Indo-Lanka ties. His first official visit was to India where he held wide-ranging and cordial talks with India’s leaders from February 15 to 18. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, since he assumed the UNP leadership in 1994, has maintained a close relationship with Indian leaders ranging from the Gandhi family to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the present premier Modi.

The new government which is also actively supported by the main Tamil party the Tamil National Alliance has planned a grand welcome for Mr. Modi who will today address Sri Lanka’s parliament - the fourth Indian leader to do so after Jawaharlal Nehru, Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi.  However, despite receiving a rock star reception at public gatherings, Mr. Modi remains somewhat of a mysterious figure. 

Since his election victory in May last year, Mr. Modi has given few interviews. The Indian leader however gave British journalist Lance Price exclusive access to him, his ministers and his advisors for a new book called The Modi Effect, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.  Journalist Price yesterday told ABC Mr. Modi had become a cult figure. “During the election campaign he was everywhere and one of his great political successes was to dominate so totally that you couldn’t escape from him,” the journalist said.

“He just wasn’t an ordinary politician in that respect and in a sense the passionate following that he’s got hasn’t ebbed away.    You can just see the way in which he has the crowd in the palm of his hands ... they will travel very long distances to come and hear him speak. I’ve never seen anybody quite do that.”
The journalist added: “He’s one of these politicians who we call in Britain ‘marmite politicians’ ... you either like them or you hate them. The people who love Modi, they really love him, he is a cult figure in that respect.”Mr. Price, a former communications director for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has interviewed scores of world leaders. He said Narendra Modi had an extraordinary quality as a politician. “I mean, you know Obama is a great speaker, Tony Blair was a great speaker - they could certainly move audiences, but nothing on the scale that Modi could do. He has a remarkable quality. Certainly when you see him with a crowd they turn out not only in their thousands, but tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands,” he said.

We may not see hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans turning out as they did for the visit of Pope Francis from January 13 to 15 this year. But millions of Sri Lankans would hope that Mr. Modi’s talks today and tomorrow would help build a close relationship with President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe so that a multitude of problems—ranging from the big brother attitude and China to poaching and the ethnic crisis here—could be settled on a win-win basis. This happened in the 1960s and 1970s when our Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike  maintained a close relationship with India’s Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shashri and Indira Gandhi. They were able to settle issues such as the crises over lakhs of stateless Indian people here and Kachchativu. Sri Lanka has good reason to believe we could in future say “Jai Hind” and “Namo Namo Matha Apa Sri Lanka”.