Maldives disillusioned with China? Muizzu will come to India; U-turn taken at ‘India Out’ stand

Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu is scheduled to visit India in the second week of October. His visit is being seen as an attempt to remove the bitterness in the relations between the two countries. Let us tell you that Muizzu had last come to New Delhi on June 9 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with leaders of six other regional countries. He will be in India for a bilateral visit from October 6-10. On condition of anonymity, people from both the countries said that their meetings with PM Modi are likely to take place on October 7.

Ahead of his visit, Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu denied any ‘India Out’ agenda, saying the presence of foreign troops in his country was a serious problem for the island nation.

Muizzu, who arrived in America to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, made this comment in response to a question at Princeton University’s program ‘Dean’s Leadership Series’ on Thursday. “We have never been against any country at any time,” Maldivian news portal Aadhaadhoo.com quoted him as saying. This is not to exclude India. The people of Maldives were facing a serious problem due to the presence of foreign troops in their country.” Muizzoo said, ”The people of Maldives do not want even a single foreign soldier to stay in the country.”

Relations between India and Maldives had been strained since November last year, when China-leaning Muizzu took over as the President of Maldives. Muizzu had asked India to withdraw around 90 Indian military personnel operating three aviation platforms gifted by the country. India withdrew its military personnel by 10 May and replaced them with civilian personnel to operate the Dornier aircraft and two helicopters.

The Maldives President also said that he had taken action against the Deputy Ministers for insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.

He was quoted in the news as saying, “Nobody should say such a thing.” I have taken action against it. I will not tolerate this kind of insult to anyone, be it a leader or a common man. Every person has his own reputation.”

Earlier this year, the deputy ministers of the Maldives’ Youth Ministry were suspended for posting derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Modi on social media.

India had strongly raised this issue with ML. After Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep, Maldives’ Deputy Ministers had criticized the Indian Prime Minister over his post on social media platform ‘X’. In his opinion, this was an attempt to present the Union Territory of Lakshadweep as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Lakshadweep on January 2 and 3 to inaugurate several projects.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}