Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : The Hypocrisy of Fuel Politics – Sri Lanka Guardian and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
Due to the oil crisis triggered by the Middle East war, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake held discussions with Indian Prime Minister Modi regarding Sri Lanka’s fuel shortages.
When the country went bankrupt under Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, then–Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa traveled to India and secured a credit line to import fuel and other essential goods, which helped end the fuel queues in Sri Lanka.
This clearly shows that whenever Sri Lanka faces a fuel crisis, it turns to India for assistance. Recognizing this, in 2003, the Ranil Wickremesinghe government, in line with the 1987 Indo–Sri Lanka Agreement, leased 15 oil tanks to India. At the time, the SLFP and the JVP, then in opposition, launched massive protests across the country against this move, accusing the government of handing over national assets to India. As a result, the agreement between India and Sri Lanka to develop the oil tanks was disrupted.
In 2004, then-President Chandrika Kumaratunga, leader of the SLFP, allied with the JVP and dissolved Ranil’s government. As a result, the development of the oil tanks stalled.
In 2015, when the Sirisena–Ranil government came to power, a cabinet paper was presented to jointly develop 85 unused oil tanks in Trincomalee through a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka. Once again, the JVP organized large-scale protests, claiming that national assets were being sold to India. Below is a statement made in 2018 by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake opposing this move:
“Chief Opposition Whip and JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday that the government was planning to hand over the Trincomalee oil tank farm to the Indian Oil Company (IOC), despite a Cabinet decision in 2016 to hand it over to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
He told Parliament that Cabinet approval had been obtained on August 7, 2018, to hand over 15 tanks of the Lower Tank Farm to the IOC and 85 tanks of the Upper Tank Farm to a joint venture between the IOC and Ceypetco.
The MP said that Cabinet approval had been granted to develop 16 tanks with funds from Ceypetco on June 6, 2016, and that it had the required US$10 million for the purpose.
He asked on what basis the oil tank farm was being handed over to the IOC when it could be developed by Ceypetco, and pointed out in COPE that developing the tank farm would provide access to the international oil market and become a lucrative source of foreign currency.”
At the time, Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists and Udaya Gammanpila, who were in the opposition, also strongly protested against leasing the oil tanks.
In 2019, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President and Udaya Gammanpila was appointed Energy Minister, an agreement was signed to lease the Trincomalee oil tanks to India for 50 years. In protest against this agreement, JVP leader Anura and other party leaders marched from Technical Junction in Colombo to the railway station, demanding the withdrawal of the deal, while trade unions of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation launched a strike.
After Ranil became President in 2022, he visited India and signed a document titled “Economic Partnership Vision” with Prime Minister Modi. One of its key proposals was to establish an oil pipeline from South India to Sri Lanka. The JVP, then in opposition, criticized this as well, claiming that India was attempting to turn Sri Lanka into one of its states through the pipeline.
Now, as fuel shortages arise again due to the Middle East war, the current JVP-led government claims that previous administrations failed to build adequate storage facilities. However, India had already stepped in to assist Sri Lanka in this regard as far back as 2002, and has now gone further by proposing an oil pipeline.
Therefore, the government now has little option but to align with India’s energy connectivity initiatives—effectively making amends for its earlier opposition to agreements involving Indian participation in Sri Lanka’s oil infrastructure.