{"id":81031,"date":"2018-09-15T16:50:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T23:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=81031"},"modified":"2018-09-15T16:50:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T23:50:08","slug":"mahinda-establishes-rapport-with-modi-visibly-makes-up-with-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/09\/15\/mahinda-establishes-rapport-with-modi-visibly-makes-up-with-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahinda establishes rapport with Modi, “visibly” makes up with India"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN\u00a0Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n

September 15, 2018, 12:00 pm<\/span><\/p>\n

NEW DELHI, September 15: Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s private visit to New Delhi last week has helped him establish a “personal rapport” with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his confidant Prof GL Peiris told the Sunday Island here.<\/p>\n

At a dinner at Le Meridien Dr Subramanian Swamy, India\u2019s ruling BJP MP, hosted for his guest Rajapaksa and his team on Thursday night, Peiris told this correspondent: “Mr Rajapaksa and Mr Modi had a one-on-one meeting. It was cordial and friendly. It is fair to say that they have established a personal rapport.”<\/p>\n

\"article_image\"<\/p>\n

Even though it was a private visit, Rajapaksa and his team of about 10 people were treated like royalty. Modi received Rajapaksa warmly and both spent some 40 minutes together. When Modi heard that Rajapaksa\u2019s son Namal was waiting in the lounge, he promptly invited him to join.<\/p>\n

This was the two leaders\u2019 third meeting since Modi took office in May 2014.<\/p>\n

The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) Convention Hall, the venue at which Rajapaksa spoke about “India-Sri Lanka Relations: The Way Forward”, was packed with diplomats, lawmakers, intellectuals and media. He was mobbed by wellwishers and selfie-crazy admirers.<\/p>\n

Dr Swamy\u2019s dinner for Rajapaksa was attended by senior cabinet Minister Maneka Gandhi and a host of distinguished personalities, including former Minister K Natwar Singh and former Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon.<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa also called on former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and opposition Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi was indisposed and could not receive them.<\/p>\n

A Mercedes car from the Rashtrapati Bhawan was at his disposal. It ferried him around town and dropped him at the airport on Friday.<\/p>\n

Said Dr Swamy: “Mr Rajapaksa wiped out the LTTE with determination and dedication in spite of loud protests from the West and elsewhere. In the process, he saved India from a lot of bother from the world\u2019s deadliest terrorist outfit. He is India\u2019s valued friend. It is understandable that he enjoys respect and admiration in our country. I have requested the Government of India to bestow on him the Bharat Ratna\u2014-the highest civilian honour.”<\/p>\n

Sunday Guardian Editor Monu Nalapat said: “Rajapaksa and his A Team\u2019s visit went off very well. Though it was a private trip, the Indian Government extended all courtesies to him and his team. It is obvious that he has visibly made up with India.”<\/p>\n

It may be recalled that Rajapaksa had bitterly complained that Indian intelligence outfits were instrumental in his ouster from power in the last presidential election in January 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN\u00a0Courtesy The Island September 15, 2018, 12:00 pm NEW DELHI, September 15: Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s private visit to New Delhi last week has helped him establish a “personal rapport” with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his confidant Prof GL Peiris told the Sunday Island here. At a dinner at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}