New Delhi reaches out in Indian Ocean: Jaishankar in Maldives, next stop Lanka

Jaishankar and Maldives President Ibrahim Solih will inaugurate a police training academy and a drug rehabilitation centre built with Indian financial assistance at Addu, a city in the southernmost atoll of the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Addu is a stronghold of the Maldivian National Party and former President Mohamed Nasheed, who is Speaker of the Majlis, the country’s Parliament. He is a vocal supporter of close ties with India.

Last year, the Modi government approved a proposal for opening an Indian consulate at Addu.

Jaishankar’s visit, during which he will also hold talks with Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, “will see the signing of several agreements related to bilateral development co-operation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects”, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Maldives stopover comes at a time of protests there that the government has “sold out” to India, and a determined pushback by President Solih, Nasheed and the ruling MDP against these protests.

Dubbed the “India Out” campaign, the protests have received active backing from Yameen and his Progressive Party, especially since his release from house arrest after he was exonerated from corruption charges.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar aishankar with his Maldives counterpart Abdulla Shahid (Twitter/@DrSJaishankar)

During his presidency, Yameen wooed China and gave his foreign policy a Beijing tilt. He hopes to make a comeback at the next election and has made this his main political platform.

After dropping a plan last month to pass a law to ban the protests as anti-national and punish the protestors with a jail term, the MDP decided  earlier this week to disallow an “India Out” rally in Male scheduled for Friday.

With a friendly government in Male since 2017, India has been well positioned to build back influence in the country, vital along with Sri Lanka, to Delhi’s strategic interests in a region where China is also engaged in establishing its presence.

Other than the police training school, and the drug rehab clinic, India has undertaken a  host of other projects in Addu city, including an airport, road projects, drainage and land reclamation. Another project being financed in Addu by India is the development of eco tourism zones.

India is also building the $500-million Greater Male Connectivity project, the largest infrastructure project in the country that links three islands with Male.

The anti-India campaign claims a large Indian military presence in Maldives and that the government is planning to hand over the Uthuru Thilafalhu atoll to the Indian Navy.

The Maldives government has clarified several times that there are no military personnel in the country other than crew and maintenance required to fly three Dornier surveillance and rescue aircraft, and a team of military doctors.

Meanwhile, Jaishankar’s visit to Colombo comes days after India extended a $1-billion credit facility to Sri Lanka which is in the middle of a severe economic crisis. It follows the visits to India by Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Foreign Affairs Minister G L Peiris last month.

The assistance is to enable Sri Lanka import food, other essential commodities and medicines from India. With this, Delhi has provided a total financial assistance of $2.4 billion to Sri Lanka since January.

It has also conveyed to Colombo that Indian investments in renewable energy, ports, logistics, infrastructure and connectivity will help Sri Lanka build capacity “holistically”, repairing its economy.

While in Sri Lanka, Jaishankar will also participate in the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting in Colombo on March 29.