Indian Defense Scandal
The Sri Lankan Connection?

The Sri Lankan government is routinely engaged in paying felicitation money to prominent overseas politicos and media outfits through its various front organizations to peddle influence. A classic example in this case is the India Sri Lanka Friendship Association started at the initiative of the Foreign Minister, Mr. Laxman Kadirgamar. Professor Suriyanarayanan, a longtime exponent of Sri Lanka in the Indian soil, heads the association endowed with the task of extrapolating and rationalizing the Sinhala point of view in the Madarasi press.

In this respect, Sri Lanka’s greatest disappointment in influence peddling was the appointment of Mr. George Fernandes, a man of principles, to the Indian cabinet. A compassionate man of a higher moral standing, he could not be bought with Sri Lankan money unlike the likes of Dr. Subramanian Swamy. The government therefore was on the prowl to identify a soft target to infiltrate India’s defense establishment.

The Sinhala government with its network of agents in India must have been alerted to an opening in India’s Defense department vis-à-vis Trinamool Congress’s Mr. Panja, the junior minister for Defense in Prime Minister Vajpayee’s cabinet. The stage was set to influence Mr. Panja and the result is the staunch anti-Fernandes stand taken by the Trinamool congress and the current undercurrents of the unfolding events.

The Sri Lankan government used none other than Mr. Abeyankar, an attaché with the Indian consulate in San Francisco to rope in Mr. Panja. Mr. Abeyankar, a vociferous anti-LTTEr, was a senior diplomat attached to the Indian consulate in Colombo for a considerable period of time prior to assuming duties in the USA. Although the origin of the plot is yet to become clear, the plot itself culminated during an unscheduled visit by Mr. Panja to California.

While in California, the minister was chaperoned by Mr. Abeyankar giving the latter ample time and opportunity to indoctrinate the minister with the Sinhala viewpoint of the civil war. Apparently, the minister’s subsequent uttering on Sri Lanka’s separatist war left no doubts in the minds of those listening to his views that he was indeed successfully conditioned to articulate the Sinhala point-of-view.

Mr. Abeyankar must have hatched the plot to rope Mr. Panja at the behest of one of his close friends, Mr. Tissa Wijeratne, the Sri Lankan consul in Los Angeles. The two collaborators found in Mr. Panja a soft spot for arts and literary endeavors. Mr. Panja, a lawyer by training, was also passionate about writing books in Bengali and acting in dramas. The stage was set to involve the minister in a drama that was to be staged in Los Angeles. According to reliable reports, the Sri Lankan consul was generous in sponsoring the event. In recognition of his contribution, the Sri Lankan consul was asked to be the Chief Guest at the Drama festival. The minister was delighted in being able to act in a drama in the USA and he was equally pleased with the generous contributions of the Sri Lankan consulate.

Following the minister’s return from the USA, Trinamool Congress’s demeanor towards Mr. Fernandes became increasingly confrontational. Although the role-played by Mr. Panja in the turn of events is yet to be asserted, the series of policy statements issued by Trinamool Congress targeting India’s defense ministry should undoubtedly cast a shadow of suspicion on Sri Lanka’s involvement in the Indian defense scandal.