A statement was issued where Maldives distanced itself from the comments made by its ministers on social media platforms. It stated that the derogatory remarks reflected personal opinions and did not represent the government’s views.
New Delhi: A day before he is set to commence his maiden visit to Beijing, the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, had to suspend 3 deputy ministers of his government to avert a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Malé over their derogatory comments about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After New Delhi conveyed its displeasure to Malé over the comments made by three deputy ministers of the Maldives, the government of the Indian Ocean archipelago issued a statement distancing itself from the comments made by the three deputy ministers on social media platforms. It stated that the derogatory remarks reflected personal opinions and did not represent the views of the Government of Maldives.
Even the island nation’s opposition politicians, including former presidents Mohamed Nasheed and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, condemned the comments made by the deputy ministers of the government headed by Muizzu, who came to power a few months back after running a campaign against India.
The row erupted even as Muizzu recently asked India to withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives. His government also moved to scrap a bilateral deal that allowed India to conduct hydrographic surveys in the territorial waters of the Maldives. The twin moves triggered speculation in New Delhi about the new regime in Malé, reversing the erstwhile government’s ‘India First’ policy and steering the Indian Ocean archipelago back into the expanding orbit of geopolitical influence of China.
The officials of the government of the Maldives reacted on X to the pictures and the videos of Modi’s visit to the Union Territory of Lakshadweep off the Malabar Coast of India. Muizzu’s deputy minister of youth empowerment, Mariyam Shiuna, called the prime minister of India a ‘clown’ and a ‘puppet of Israel’ in a post on X. The post was deleted after it triggered a volley of sharp responses from the X users in India. Some netizens on social media platforms lauded Modi’s walks on the beaches and his snorkelling during his visit to Lakshadweep and called it a move by the Government of India to promote the archipelago as a tourist destination while others suggested that the archipelago off the coast of Kerala could beat the Maldives. Some even went to the extent of calling upon tourists from India to boycott the Maldives as a holiday destination.
