What is going on between India and Maldives? The uncultured comments, suspension and more

The derogatory and offensive remarks made by Maldivian ministers on Indian PM Modi’s post from his recent Lakshadweep visit started a controversy culminating in the suspension of three MPs by Male.

After PM Modi posted pictures from the pristine beaches of Lakshadweep promoting it as a tourist destination on the microblogging site X, Zahid Rameez, a sitting MP, tweeted, “How can they provide the services we do? The idea of competing with us is delusional. How can they be clean? The permanent smell in rooms will be their biggest downfall.”

Mariyam Shiuna, a sitting minister in the Maldives government who serves as the deputy minister at the Maldives Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information, and Art, crossed all lines of indecency by calling PM Modi “a clown and a puppet.”

Majid Shareef also posted derogatory remarks and tagged Modi in a post talking about open defecation in India.

The Action and Reaction

It sparked outrage among Indians, and #BoycottMaldives started trending on social media; multiple Indian celebrities posted pictures from their time in Lakshadweep. Sachin Tendulkar posted photos from his recent Sindhudurg trip, and Akshay Kumar tweeted, “We respect our neighbours and are good to them; why should we tolerate unprovoked hate? We send the maximum number of tourists to Maldives. Let’s promote and explore Indian islands.” 

Salman Khan, John Abraham, Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Dhavan also posted and urged people to visit the UT for a beach holiday. Indians on social media were talking about cancelling their plans to Maldives; many cancelled their flight tickets and hotel bookings, and the travel agency Easemytrip suspended all flight bookings to the island nation.

Former presidents of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, slammed the comments made by Shiuna and urged the govt to distance itself from the derogatory comments made by the minister. The government of Maldives acknowledged the mistake and released a statement in the public domain that said, “The government of Maldives is aware of the derogatory remarks on social media platforms against foreign officials and high-ranking individuals; these opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the government of Maldives.” The Indian High Commission raised this issue with their counterparts in Male and brought the derogatory remarks to their attention, which led to the immediate Suspension of the three MPs.

Muizzu likes the Dragon, while the economy likes India.

The newly elected president of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, came to power riding the India out campaign, and it is observed that he leans more towards China; he has even left India out of his state visits and went to Beijing for a visit on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation. He has also asked India to withdraw its troops who are deployed to operate the three gifted aircraft patrolling from the island nation.

India has concerns about Maldives falling into China’s debt trap and giving away its territory on a lease like Srilanka’s Hambantota port, which can be a threat to India’s strategic interests.

Maldives economy is heavily dependent on its tourism sector, which is a significant source of foreign exchange reserves and government revenues. India was the top contributor of tourists in 2021 & 2022, with over 2.91 and 2.41 lakh tourists and a 23% and 14.4% market share respectively.

The close relations between two nations are bound by mutual respect, history, culture and strong people-to-people ties. 

India is an ally and a time-tested friend of Maldives. 

Historically, New Delhi has been the first responder in times of need. Maldivian public figures must keep that in Mind while making such unsavoury comments.

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