PM Modi’s meeting with new Maldives president in Dubai significant
By Girish Linganna
India has, finally, agreed to withdraw its troops from the Maldives, the president of the strategically located archipelago has said, fulfilling a promise he had made to the country’s electorate ahead of the recent presidential election in the archipelagic nation. Indian government sources said the two sides had agreed to discuss workable solutions for continued cooperation and that India respects the democratic mandate of the Maldivian people.
A day after he took oath as the eighth president of the strategically located island nation in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) last month, Mohamed Muizzu, 45, of the People’s National Congress (PNC), had put forward a formal request to the Indian government to pull out its military troops from the country. India’s Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju, who represented India at Muizzu’s inauguration ceremony held on November 17, conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s greetings to the new president and reiterated India’s commitment to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation and people-to-people ties.
“Privileged to call on President HE Dr Mohamed Muizzu. Conveyed greetings from Hon’ble PM @NarendraModi and reiterated India’s commitment to further strengthen the substantive bilateral cooperation and robust people-to-people ties,” Rijiju posted on X (formerly Twitter), after the meeting. Muizzu, on his part, had passed on the request for troop withdrawal to India through Rijiju, whom he met in Malé on November 18. An official statement by the president’s office had made the request public.
“The President noted that at the presidential election held in September, the Maldivian people had given him a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed the hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives,” a statement released by the President’s office read. “When Minister Rijiju called on President Muizzu, the President brought up the issue of Indian military personnel present in the Maldives for operating aircraft for medical evacuation and counter drug-trafficking purposes,” the statement added.
President Muizzu was elected on September 30, 2023, as a proxy for a pro-China predecessor who had been jailed on corruption charges. He had campaigned on a pledge to evict Indian military personnel from the island nation, but asserted that he would achieve this through diplomatic means.
India holds key maritime interest in the Maldives, a significant neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region and bilateral ties, especially in defence and security, have seen an upward trajectory in the past few years. India has also provided assistance to the Maldives in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.
India had deployed its troops in the Maldives in 2020 at the request of the then President, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was seen as more favourably inclined towards India. The deployment was part of a defence cooperation agreement between the two countries, which also included joint training, maritime security and surveillance.
The presence of Indian troops in the Maldives irked China, which has been expanding its influence in the Indian Ocean Region through its ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. China had invested heavily in the Maldives during the tenure of former president Abdulla Yameen, who was ousted by Solih in 2018. Yameen was later convicted of money-laundering and sentenced to five years in prison.
With New Delhi and Beijing both vying for influence in the region, Muizzu’s victory marked a significant shift in the nation’s foreign policy and raised concerns about the delicate balance of power in the region. Muizzu, who was Yameen’s running mate in the 2018 Maldivian presidential election, had accused India of interfering in the internal affairs of the Maldives and violating its sovereignty.
Muizzu recently went on record saying that the Indian soldiers would not be replaced by troops from any other country and his decision in no way indicated that Chinese, or any other country’s military troops, would be allowed to be stationed there. He had also vowed to review the defence agreement with India and renegotiate the terms of Chinese loans and projects.
Prime Minister Modi and President Muizzu met for the first time on the sidelines of the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai on December 1, 2023. They discussed ways to enhance the India-Maldives friendship across diverse sectors, such as economic relations, development cooperation and people-to-people ties. They also agreed to set up a core group to further deepen their partnership. The meeting came days after President Muizzu’s request that India withdraw its 77 Indian military personnel from the Maldives and decision to review more than 100 bilateral agreements between the two countries.
The Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region and occupies a special place in the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and India’s ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’. The Maldives’ strategic importance to India and Muizzu’s potential nuanced foreign policy were also highlighted during the meeting. (IPA Service)
(The author is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru.)