Maldivian President Mohammad Muizzu arrived in New Delhi on Sunday for a four-day India and Maldives bilateral visit. This is the president’s second and first official bilateral visit to India. For the island country, this visit attempts to repair fractured relations resulting from the events in January, with its longest reliable neighbouring country.
The relationship between India and Maldives spans ancient times and crosses modern-day political boundaries. The Kalinga (now Odisha) traders of ancient India held large trade operations with the Maldives and greatly affected the country’s culture.
Situated 70 nautical miles south of Lakshadweep islands at a strategically crucial area in the Arabian Sea, the Maldives island group together gained independence from British rule in 1966. India was one of the first countries to recognize the country’s sovereignty and established and maintained a prosperous bilateral relationship with the nation since then. The assistance of India to the Maldives encompasses a vast array of sectors like trade, defence, healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Maldivian Dependency on India
Defence and Security:
In 1988 Maldives faced a coup backed by a Sri Lankan militant organization. Assisted by Maldivian businessman Abdullah Luthufee armed mercenaries of the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), tried to overthrow the government in the island republic of Maldives. Singapore, Pakistan and Sri Lanka denied the request for help from then-President Gayoom citing lack of military power. On the advice of the UK President sought help from India and India launched Operation Cactus prevented the coup from taking place.
Since then, Maldives depended heavily on India for their defence and Security. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India trained 70% of Maldives Security forces in several war tactics and rescue operations through joint exercises like the Ekuverin, and Ekatha. It also trains first responders and rescue workers for natural calamities as the island nation is prone to them. India also signed an agreement to ‘develop, support and maintain’ a harbour at Uthuru Thila Falhu naval base in Maldives in 2020. As an immediate neighbour of India, Maldives depends heavily on India for its maritime and naval security. To fight instability in the Arabian Sea, pirates and aggression from hostile countries Indian army used to provide heavy support to the island country.
Infrastructure and Human Development:
India also engaged in several infrastructure projects in Maldives. The biggest of them is the Greater Male Project which aimed to connect the Maldivian capital Male with three adjoining islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi, reducing travel time and population concentration with a sanction of 500 million USD. The development of Gulhfalhu Port is also partaken by India which lightens the burden on the Male port. The City of Abdu is also set up as an alternative tourist spot in the southern region with the help of India. With a 222.98 Cr grant, India also set up Maldive’s National College of Police and Law Enforcement. Apart from that the airport of Hanimadhoo and Gan island was also done by India’s assistance.
The Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital was developed with India’s assistance of 52 Cr along with establishing a state-of-the-art cancer centre that will coordinate with 150 health centres throughout the islands. In 1996 India established an institute of technical education in the country. India also regularly trains workers from different sectors like teachers, healthcare and vocational workers under a 5.3 mil USD project. Since 2019 over 2200 people of Maldives have visited India for in-person training in several fields.
Trade and Economy:
Trade and Economic exchanges have grown four times in the last ten years between India and Maldives. The launch of cargo exchange services in 2020 and the approval of visa-free travel for business in 2022 saw exponential growth of economic exchanges between India and Maldives. The total bilateral trade in the year 2021 was 173.15 million USD whereas in 2022 it was 501.98 million. The State Bank of India is the largest bank in the island nation and has been playing a key role since 1974 by providing loans for resorts, the export of marine products and business enterprises. Being an island nation Maldives is dependent on India for rice, wheat, flour, sugar, eggs, potatoes, onions and other essential commodities. India mainly imports scrap metals and seafood from the Maldives.
Maldives primarily is a tourism economy that depends heavily on its resorts and tourist spots for its revenue. Indian tourists used to constitute the largest chunk of incoming visitors. In 2023 India sent the largest number of tourists to Maldives -2.09 lakh contributing to 11% of its GDP. The 2.91 lakh and 2.41 lakh tourists contributed 14% and 23% of the total market share in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Diplomatic Downfall between India and Maldives Relations
Lakshadweep vs Maldives:
However, this thriving relationship took a turn for the worse in January of this year hindering and halting much progress that both countries attained. What should have been a simple video promoting Indian tourism, immature and unprecedented derogatory remarks from Maldivian ministers made it into a diplomatic row between the two countries. On the 4th of January this year Indian PM Narendra Modi released a video of himself strolling on the pristine Lakshadweep beach and in the captions, he praised the beauty of the island and urged the citizens to visit the country’s hidden marvel. This was said to be done for the promotion of domestic tourism in the island groups. However, some of the Maldivian government ministers felt insecure about this video, as India was the largest tourism contributor. Three ministers made derogatory remarks towards the PM of India and made racist remarks towards Indian tourists.
India out Campgain:
This development however didn’t come to surprise many experts as the current president Mohammad Muizzu and his party came to power campaigning against India. A decade ago Maldives became a ground zero for geopolitical jostling between China and India. Leader of the country at that time Mohamed Yameen made the country the poster child for China’s debt trap diplomacy. For several infra projects, he accumulated massive debt amounts often in secrets from China. However, in 2018, he was defeated in the election and the new government by Ibu Sohil took a new approach to domestic policy with a focus on anti-corruption and building democratic institutions. He also took the ‘India First’ approach in his diplomatic approach. Solih also enhanced Maldives’ relations with other regional partners, including Australia, which recently opened an embassy in the Maldives capital, Malé.
Yameen on the other hand was in jail for money laundering and thus disqualified from running, he backed Mohamed Muizzu, the relatively unpopular Mayor of Malé, as his candidate. He was at the forefront of the ‘India Out’ campaign which was amplified by Yameen supporters and made Muizzu’s party win the election. Upon winning the election he started action for the evacuation of the Indian military that were stationed in the island country on mutual agreement. Indian administration respecting the sovereignty of the country evacuated the military soon after the diplomatic row. Muizzu again started increasing the country’s proximity to China by acquiring several debts and investments in the country.
This however didn’t go well for the country.
Indian tourists reacting to the derogatory remarks started boycotting the Maldives in staggering numbers. Maldivian ambassador to India was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs. Several Indian booking sites boycotted flights to the countries. Online support from several influencing voices also amplified this movement. On budget, the grants and financial packages to the country were cut down. Military aid, training and operations were reduced in the country as per their will.
As a result, the economy of the country went into crisis. From a thriving economy, the country went to the verge of defaulting. The ministers who made derogatory comments were expelled from the administration permanently. Without the assistance of the Indian army, rescue work was affected and many cases of death came to light where death could have been averted with timely rescue. The tourism board of Maldives officially released an apology to the Indian citizens and President Muizzu also diplomatically gave a soft apology after immense pressure from the opposition and his party. But the damage was already done and since then President Muizzu has been trying to get into India’s good side.
In several avenues, the Maldivian side has shown efforts to normalise relations with India. During the swearing-in ceremony of PM Modi Muizzu first came to India since he took to office. This October visit is his second and first official diplomatic visit since his administration took office. India also welcomed this effort and showed interest in normalising relations under its ‘Neighbour First’ policy. On the second day of the visit, India announced the introduction of the RuPay Cards in Maldives in a step to ease the business and travel between the countries and globalise its payment infrastructure. India also committed 700 social housing units to the Maldivian government. India also extended its support for the timely completion of the Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP) and to jointly work in establishing an “Agriculture Economic Zone” and tourism investments in Haa Dhaalu atoll and fish processing and canning facility at Haa Alifu atoll with Indian assistance. On the issue of China, Maldives also assure to never compromise India’s security through any of its actions.