Maldivian opposition leaders ridiculed President Mohamed Muizzu of Maldives who was on a State visit to India on 6-10 October 2024. In India for saying that his administration had now come to know that diplomacy could not be made through ‘’lies and deceit’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu during bilateral talks in Delhi. (Photo: X/@MMuizzu)
This was learned as Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, who was in India, began to be trolled by the Maldivian opposition and social media users in India and the Maldives over the about-turn. The Maldivian opposition criticized Muizzu’s administration, which was ‘naive and inexperienced,’ and realized that diplomacy is not done through ‘lies and deceit’.
Muizzu, who can be said to be close to China, took office in November last year using an ‘India Out’ platform. Later, he demanded to evacuate the Indian military presence in the Maldivian territory's three platforms, which he assumed charge of recently. In accordance with the reached decision, approximately ninety soldiers left the island state on May 10.
The president of the Maldivian Democratic Party’s main opposition, Abdulla Shahid with his pleasure said, “The Maldives-India relationship, as far as I am concerned, has yesterday come alive”. Today the people of Maldives and I thank India for standing steadfast and resolute among the Maldivian people.
This is what is taking place now: the current administration is gradually discovering that international relations cannot be pursued on the basis of falsehood. This is clearly reflective of the inexperience of the administration and what they have in their mind is in the diplomatic space,” Abdulla Shahid, who served as the foreign minister in the Maldives.
He said it is such a relief to see projects and initiatives that were established during the presidency of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a president who is pro-India, continue and be implemented. He enumerated many other activities that were conducted during Solih's administration.
“As we further support the democracy in this geographic neighbour, friend, and partner, hoping that this current trajectory in the relationship sustains.” Shahid further added.
Shahid’s argument can be heard in words of former Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed who referred to meetings between Muizzu and the Indian leaders in Delhi, as he said India and Maldives are ‘Natural partners.
Nasheed, who is widely believed to have worked towards consolidating India-Maldives ties during his tenure, said he was glad about the change in the situation, adding that “the relationship is now set.”
"India and the Maldives are natural partners with so much in common: music, films, food, culture, history and geographically. It should always be friends. I was glad to see things come together and the broken relationship to be restored. Of course, as many of you have pointed out, congratulations are in order for both PM Modi and President Dr Muizzu,” Nasheed declared in a tweet.
Speaking to MDP Chairperson Fayaz Ismail said that Muizzu’s anti-India stance contributed to a massive economic and political backlash against India. He said that the careless tactics of the Muizzu government are a loss to the Maldive's reputation. He urged leader of the administration be made to answer for the calamity averted.
President Muizzu’s provocative language and unnecessary isolation of our main supporter has undone the work that we have done very expensively. ‘It has compromised our ability to pull through tough or dire financial straights, it has eroded our credibility to do finance – financial markets.
INDIA RISES FOR THE MALDIVES
This is especially so as the Maldives is currently experiencing a serious financial problem: India thus provided much-needed budgetary succour to the Muizzu government by retaining a USD 50 million Treasury Bill for another year.
During his visit to Delhi, Muizzu got opportunities to meet President Droupadi Murmu; Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar; Prime Minister Narendra Modi; and Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, among others.
That fell into a ‘vision document’ that came out after a bilateral dialog between the PM Modi and Muizzu state that India will supply the Maldives with defense platforms and assets to enhance the MNDF forces.
Interpreting the Blitters, Muizzu in an interview with The Times of India recently stated that his country’s “Maldives First” policy will not affect its decades-long friendly political-security ties with India.
SOCIAL MEDIA SCHOOLS MUIZZU
The post about Muizzu’s diplomatic turn on India was also a popular discussion among the Indians and Maldivians where many of the tweeters accused the Maldivian President to be a hypocrite and spreading lies about India.
#IndiaOut was a shameless lie by @Mmuizzu to mislead us into voting for him while he crafted and spread falsehoods about @ibusolih presidency. Now Muizzu is copying Ibu’s leadership style and foreign policy because Muizzu knows nothing about leading a country.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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