The big neighbour’s (India) media doesn’t really seem to be interested in the Sri Lankan Presidential Election scheduled for 21 September.

Going through how the Indian media, in particular the print and electronic media, has covered it, one thing is strikingly clear. There is no real interest in covering the story even as Sri Lanka is strategically important to India with the ever increasing Chinese presence in the island nation.  

India claims that it is “an age-old friend of Sri Lanka” and that both nations have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious, and linguistic interaction and that the relationship between the two countries is more than 2,500-years-old.

But, even after 37 years since what is considered even today as the “biggest diplomatic failure” – the signing of the Indo-Lanka accord, India, as the ‘big brother’ in South Asia, is unable to make successive Sri Lankan Presidents implement its own baby - the 13th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing the devolution of powers to the Tamils.

And now, yet another Presidential Election. And irrespective of who wins, India, in its own diplomatic terms, will continue to work closely with the new President to further strengthen the ties between the two neighbours.

This Presidential Election has been unique in recent times from an Indian point of view. The majority of the Tamil speaking candidates have an option of voting for two prominent Tamil faces who are contesting independently, seeking to prove their solidarity rather than winning.

Sri Lankan Tamils have a common candidate in Pakkiya Selvam Ariyanethiran targeting the votes in the North and the East and Mylvaganam Thilakarajah from the Indian origin Tamils seeking their support. This should have been the point of interest for the Indian media. Alas, it was not, unfortunately due to a lack of understanding about the deep political undercurrents and its importance for India.

The general coverage in the Indian media is far and wide at irregular intervals but lacks depth in terms of making the Indian reader understand the Election and its importance.

The Indian media is not fully aware of what an Executive Presidency is and how that works as well as the voting pattern which is not as straight forward as in the Indian elections.

Also, among the public, the interest in the Sri Lankan Presidential Election is very low. Even in the culturally, geographically, religiously, and linguistically close State of Tamil Nadu, the coverage is minimal, thereby failing the Tamils in Tamil Nadu, in terms of making them understand the Election. Their coverage has been restricted to just one point - ‘Will President Ranil Wickremesinghe be re-elected?’

But, a leading Tamil media outlet, ‘Dinamalar’ has written about the common Tamil candidate and the difference of opinion within the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) in supporting the common Tamil candidate. “While ITAK Opposition Parliamentarian, President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran is against the common Tamil candidate, another MP from the same Party Sivagnanam Shritharan is in favour of the Tamil candidate. Tamil people in Jaffna say that this will potentially split the votes”.

Although occasional coverage has been offered by India’s national broadcaster Doordarshan, and some New Delhi based news outlets, the demands of the Tamil speaking people, their aspirations and views, and a solution to the Tamil national question and the India brokered 13th Amendment don’t find a place in their coverage. Their coverage is basically restricted to who the main candidates are and analysing certain aspects like the candidates’ background, the country’s economic mess and how the new President will deal with India, without clearly making the reader understand the candidates' standpoint on issues which matter to India.

The Chennai based ‘The Hindu’ has comparatively covered the Election better as they have a full-time correspondent based in Colombo. Although they ran an interview with National People’s Power Presidential candidate and Opposition MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake where he said that there would be ‘no punishment’ for alleged war crimes by the State security forces, they did not carry exclusive interviews with Ariyanethiran and Thilakarajah or their campaigns even though the core audience for their bilingual edition is in Tamil Nadu.

Former senior Indian Army Major General and a regular columnist and a commentator on Sri Lanka, Lieutenant General Ashok K. Mehta has written a detailed analytical piece in “FirstPost.com” a popular English online portal.

“Tamil politics has undergone a sea change, both on the island and across the straits. The Sri Lankan Tamil card has vanished from India’s domestic politics. India had invited, for the first time, Dissanayake to Delhi in February in a rare act of distributing its diplomatic eggs, which it failed to do in the Maldives and Bangladesh. Ideally, New Delhi’s first choice would be Wickremesinghe, followed by Samagi Jana Balawegaya Leader and Presidential candidate and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and Dissanayake.”

India’s largest Hindi daily outlet Dainik Jagran has an analysis of the four front runners. “Wickremesinghe is fighting an uphill battle. However, he can still narrow the gap and win the Election in the second preference vote. Former President and incumbent Government Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa's son, Government MP Namal Rajapaksa is the other main contender (from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna), but, according to Sri Lankan election observers, he has no chance in this Election. The political pendulum can swing either way”. Even a fortnight before the Election, another leading Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar has focused on the future of Indo-Lanka relations post the Presidential Election rather than the Election, the candidates, the issues, and the predictions.

The Delhi based British Broadcasting Corporation’s Tamil language website has not offered adequate coverage of the Election even though they claim ‘Sri Lanka as their bread and butter’ for decades. But, since the war came to an end, their focus on Sri Lanka has been not only minimal but also abysmal.

The Indian national broadcaster's presence in Colombo is minimal compared to other neighbouring countries. Earlier, the State media had a strong presence from 1985-2005 with journalist and broadcaster P. Kannan - ‘a solid hand’ serving as the Sri Lanka correspondent for long.

Except for the largest Tamil daily Dinamalar, the national English and Hindi press have completely ignored the common Tamil candidate, indicating either their utter bias or lack of understanding of the political activities in the war affected areas.

Surprisingly, the Indian media’s overt interest in Namal Rajapaksa compared to Premadasa or Dissanayake illustrates the lack of in-depth knowledge of Sri Lanka’s political currents.

Broadly, the focus in general seems to be on Wickremesinghe and whether he will win and Namal Rajapaksa being brought in by Mahinda Rajapaksa, a reflection of dynastic politics in South Asia.

Most of the Indian media refer to Dissanayake as a leftist, Marxist-Leninist candidate and his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna past.

Compared to Wickremesinghe and Dissanayake, Premadasa gets a less attention and coverage in the Indian media. Most national outlets like the The Times of India, the Hindustan Times, and The Indian Express have preferred news copies from agencies like the Agence France-Presse and Reuters reporting from Colombo.

None of the media explains the voting pattern and informs the Indian readers that a minimum of 50% of the votes cast plus one vote is required for a candidate to be the elected winner.

While there is a keen interest in India-Sri Lanka cricket matches in the Indian media, when it comes to politics and elections in Sri Lanka, it is just a case of playing the second fiddle.

Even as Ceylon Tea lost its charm with the Indian connoisseur, so has Sri Lankan politics with the Indian media.

(The writer is the World News Editor of The African Gazette)