Key lessons from Sri Lanka crisis :::: Responsible governance, Fiscal prudence, No to culture of Freebies - Jaishankar after all-party meet

New Delhi 

Important Lessons from Sri Lanka crisis .... "very important", --- Fiscal prudence, No to culture of freebies and need for responsible governance: Foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar after all-party meet. 

He said, many members were concerned about lessons of Sri Lanka and "we had anticipated that question". 

"We also have seen some very misplaced speculation in press saying something has happened in Sri Lanka so should we be worrying about situations in parts of India," the minister said.

In this context, he said, "So, we had asked Finance Ministry to make a presentation that brought out, statewise, the expenditure to revenue comparison, liabilities to GSDP, growth rate or liablities of various Indian states, budget borrowings that they have done, mortgaging of assets.... The unpaid power dues to GENCOMs and DISCOMs and the outstanding guarantees that states have". 

So, he said, "we had a very good discussion. Members were very keen to know how much we have done".

The External Affairs Minister, himself a suave diplomat, said - "We had done two presentations. One was done from a political perspective, from a foreign policy perspective which explained to all leaders that the political turbulence in Sri Lanka, economic crisis which was there - the debt situation".

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with a severe foreign exchange shortage hampering the import of essentials, including food, fuel and medicines.

He explained, "the support that India has given of 3.8 Billion dollars assistance - no other country has given this level of support to Sri Lanka this year and the initiative that we are taking - how to help them and facilitate their engagement with other bodies including IMF & other debtors". 

The number of leaders who turned up for the meet was 38. "We had invited 46 parties, 28 parties attended. From our side, there were 8 ministers, including Pralhad Joshi & Purshottam Rupala," the Minister said. 

M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (MDMK) were among those who attended the meeting. 

P Chidambaram and Manickam Tagore of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Sharad Pawar and TR Baalu and MM Abdulla of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) also attended. 

Dr Jaishankar said he has seen misinformed comparisons (in media) in Lankan context. “People asked if such a situation can occur in India,” he said. 

But he said that as the matter pertains to a very close neighbour, the government is naturally worried about its consequences and the spillover it can have for India.

"The reason we took the initiative to request you all to join an all-party meeting was...this is a very serious crisis and what we are seeing in Sri Lanka is in many ways an unprecedented situation," Jaishankar said.