Maldives govt issues condemnation after 'India Out' protests

At the demonstrations that took place on Thursday, some of the protestors wore masks depicting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while others held banners that read, “India Out”, reports Scroll.

The Maldivian government blamed the opposition party's for the demonstration.

The demonstration did not “only provoke hatred, but also promote hostility with the objective of tarnishing the country’s long-standing cordial ties with India”, the Maldivian government said as quoted by Scroll.

The cause of the protest is still not clear.

The opposition parties in the country have been using the “India Out” campaign since 2020 to target the government.

The roots of the “India Out” campaign are in the change in Maldives’ foreign policy since Ibrahim Mohamed Solih took over as the president in 2018. The previous dispensation led by Abdulla Yameen was seen to have been closer to China than India. During Yameen’s tenure between 2013 and 2018, Maldives was estimated to have borrowed US$ 1.5 billion (over Rs 12,000 crore) from China, according to a paper published by the Observer Research Foundation, reports Scroll.

“In 2018, his [Yameen] government asked India to withdraw its helicopters and operatives from the country, accusing them of espionage and violating sovereignty,” the paper noted.