‘Doesn’t give you licence to bully us’: Maldives President amid row with India

After concluding his five-day China visit, Maldives President Muizzu on Saturday said that no country had the right to “bully” the island nation.

His statement came amid a diplomatic row between India and the Maldives after Maldivian politicians made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Lakshadweep.

“We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the licence to bully us,” Muizzu said during a press conference.

A row erupted between India and Maldives after certain Maldivian politicians including ministers, made derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lakshadweep visit. The ministers had inferred Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep as an attempt to wean tourists away from the island country.

After India raised the matter with the Maldives, three ministers were suspended from their posts on January 7.

The next day, the Maldivian envoy to India was summoned to the External Affairs Ministry and conveyed its strong concerns over disparaging social media posts against PM Modi.

The remarks by the Maldives’ ministers have angered Indians as they cancelled their planned vacations to the island nation. EaseMyTrip, an online travel company, also suspended flight bookings to the Maldives amid the row.

Notably, Maldives President Muizzu, who was in China on a state visit, has appealed to the country to “intensify” efforts to send more tourists to the island nation.

“China was our (Maldives’) number one market pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position,” according to a readout posted on his official website.

The Maldivian President won the elections in October last year on the back of an “India Out” campaign in which he pledged the removal of Indian troops from the archipelago.