On Tuesday, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the BJP led NDA’s victory in the Lok Sabha election with massive majority for the third time. All the same, engaging and warm as the relationship between diplomatic partners may have soured in recent years, Muizzu stated his keen interest in working with PM Modi for the common good.
In a tweet on X, which was formerly known as microblogging, President Muizzu declared, “Dear Prime Minister, @narendramodi, BJP as well as BJP-formed NDA, warm congratulations on the success in the 2024 India General Election to serve the third term; I am eagerly looking forward to joining hands with you towards translating our bilateral interest in terms of shared prosperity and stability of the two countries.”
To this, Prime Minister Modi expressed his pleasure, adding that the Maldives holds great value as a neighbor and a partner in the Indian Ocean Region. ”Maldives is a good partner and neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region,” Modi responded to this: “I too hope for expanded collaboration for deeper enhancement of bilateral relations.”
These relations have become rather unsubstantial since Muizzu assumed office last year, which shares a warm relations with China. Some of these included a promise by Nasheed to bring an end to the presence of Indian security forces in the Maldives for maritime defending functions. It was regarded as a change from a policy of diversifying the strategic joint initiative between the Maldives and India and a move closer to China which raised diplomatic tensions.
The bad relations between the Maldivian and Indian governments sunk to a new low earlier this year when several Maldivian ministers, including a deputy minister, made racist and disgraceful comments about India. These remarks included making fun of PM Modi’s initiatives to encourage the tourism industry in Lakshadweep. The issue invited a lot of negative reactions from the Indians demanding to others that the people of India refuse the Maldives as a tourist destination.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!