Muizzu set to visit Delhi next month: ‘We never followed India Out policy’

The Maldives President’s softening of public criticism against India is setting the stage for a visit. His comments were made in the US which he is visiting for the UN General Assembly.

In an interaction at the ‘Dean’s Leadership Series’ of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Muizzu said it was wrong for the Deputy Ministers to insult Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“No one should say such a thing. I took action against it. I will not accept insulting anyone like that, whether he is a leader or an ordinary person. Every human being has a reputation,” he said, as reported by Maldivian local media outlet Adhadhu.

Earlier this year, Deputy Youth Ministers Malsha Shareef and Mariyam Shiuna called Modi names in social media posts.

They were both on suspension with pay following the incident that caused a diplomatic row between the Maldives and India. However, both resigned the day President Muizzu announced his scheduled visit to India in June this year to attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.

On the issue of pursuing an anti-India agenda, Muizzu said, “We have never been against any one country at any point. It’s not ‘India Out’. Maldives faced a serious problem with foreign military presence on this soil. The people of Maldives do not want a single foreign soldier in the country.”

Early this year, after his bilateral visit to China, Muizzu did, however, target India by calling it a bully without naming it. He had said, “We might be a small country, but that does not give you the licence to bully us.”

The Maldives President’s new remarks in the US come weeks after New Delhi and Male held a defence dialogue where they discussed “ongoing defence cooperation projects” and “forthcoming bilateral military exercises”.

Muizzu’s visit to New Delhi will be a stand-alone bilateral visit to India, months after he travelled to India for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi on June 9.

This was significant since India and Maldives had witnessed a slide in their bilateral ties since President Mohamed Muizzu assumed office last year on the plank of the ‘India Out’ campaign.

Soon after coming to power in November 2023, Muizzu requested India to withdraw its military personnel from his country.

Faced with a deadlock, the two countries had agreed on February 2 this year that India would pull out 80-odd military personnel stationed in the Maldives between March 10 and May 10.

The Ministry of External Affairs had said that the two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft in the Maldives would be operated by “competent Indian technical personnel” who would replace the “present personnel”.

After the replacement of personnel was completed, Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer visited Delhi in May this year.

A month later, President Muizzu visited India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi’s government as it began its third-term.

And, in August, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar went to Male to discuss all areas of bilateral cooperation to deepen the partnership.

He framed Maldives as “one of the cornerstones of our ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, it is also one of our Vision SAGAR, as well as of our commitment to the Global South. To put it succinctly in the words of my Prime Minister Narendra Modi – for India, neighbourhood is a priority and, in the neighbourhood, Maldives is a priority. We also share the closest bonds of history and kinship”.