Lakshadweep vs. the Maldives… what?

Brut India

Everything you need to know about what’s happening between India and the Maldives right now.

Transcript

00:00This was Akshay Kumar holidaying in the Maldives, but then why did he call out public figures

00:05from the island country just a few days later?

00:07And Salman Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, why did they start pitching for Indian tourist

00:12destinations?

00:13While the recent controversy started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted his pictures

00:20from Lakshadweep Islands, the relationship between India and its neighbour to the south-west,

00:25Maldives, actually goes back decades.

00:27Plus, the island country was of strategic importance to India because of its location

00:32in the commercial sea lanes in the Indian Ocean.

00:34But first, let's see what happened in January 2024.

00:37PM Modi was in Lakshadweep to inaugurate developmental projects worth Rs. 1150 crore.

00:45He posted pictures from his visit, chilling on a beach and snorkelling.

00:49One of his tweets said, for those who wish to embrace the adventurer in them, Lakshadweep

00:54has to be on your list.

00:56And then, according to news reports, three Maldivian deputy ministers posted tweets against

01:01this display.

01:03One called the PM a clown and a puppet, while another said, while I wish success for India's

01:08tourism, targeting the Maldives so explicitly isn't diplomatic.

01:12The Maldivian foreign ministry put out a statement saying, these opinions are personal and do

01:17not represent the views of the government of Maldives.

01:20The tweets were deleted and the ministers suspended.

01:23But a boycott Maldives trend surfaced on Indian Twitter after the controversy.

01:27While celebrities didn't join the boycott movement, they encouraged people to explore

01:32Indian islands.

01:43Indian tourists accounted for the highest number of visitors in Maldives in 2023.

01:48Indians didn't need a visa to go there and it was a popular tourist and honeymoon destination

01:52among them.

01:53India and the Maldives shared friendly bilateral ties for decades.

01:57About 27,000 Indians lived there, with many Indians providing teaching and medical services

02:02in the Maldives.

02:03Other Indian workers included engineers, construction workers, technicians and hospitality workers.

02:09A high point in the India-Maldives relationship came in 1988.

02:13A coup to remove the then Maldivian president, Mamoon Abdul Gayoom, was afoot.

02:18The Indian government responded to Gayoom's SOS messages and the Indian military was successful

02:23in helping him retain power.

02:25The fact that the Indian troops returned home after the operation built trust among the

02:30Maldivians that India wasn't going to assert dominance over them.

02:33Since then, India helped train the Maldivian National Defence Force and assisted in developmental

02:38projects.

02:39In 2018, India announced a $1.4 billion financial assistance package for the Maldives, which

02:46would be used for their general budget and infrastructural projects.

02:49But more recently, the relationship between the two countries soured ever since Mohammed

02:54Moise Zou became president in November 2023.

02:56Moise Zou was seen as a pro-China leader who rode on the India Out campaign to come to

03:02power.

03:03This campaign was primarily against the presence of the Indian military in the island nation.

03:07And what were Indian troops doing in the Maldives?

03:10Operating aircraft which India had donated to the Maldives for sea surveillance and medical

03:15evacuations.

03:16Besides that, India was helping the Maldives build a naval dockyard.

03:20Critics of this partnership expressed concern over the presence of the Indian military and

03:24naval vessels at the dockyard for coming years.

03:27While distancing from India worked in favour of Moise Zou, backed by public sentiment to

03:32protect Maldivian sovereignty, the previous government led by President Ibrahim Mohamed

03:37Soli kept an India-first approach, with India offering security partnership, developmental

03:42assistance and help during the COVID pandemic.

03:45The new president Moise Zou changed that within two months of assuming power.

03:49Maldivian presidents usually made their first official visit to India, but Moise Zou first

03:54went to Turkey, followed by China.

03:56The Maldives government also formally asked India to remove its troops.

04:00And the debate around tourism was the most recent controversy regarding India's relations

04:04with the Maldives.

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