After months of tension, Maldives now seems to be trying to improve relations with India. It is reported that President Mohammed Muizzu may come to New Delhi on an official visit. However, so far nothing has been said officially by the Indian government about this. At present, it is not clear what issues can be discussed mainly during this bilateral meeting.
According to the Indian Express report, Muizzu may visit India next week. President’s Office spokesperson Heena Waleed said in Male, “The President is going to visit India soon. As you know, such visits are decided according to the convenience of the leaders of both the countries. Discussions are going on in this regard.” The special thing is that this meeting is going to take place at a time when just a few days ago India and Maldives had talked about defense issues in New Delhi.
This was the first defence dialogue between the two countries after India withdrew its military personnel. Earlier, the two countries had met on this issue in Male during the tenure of then President Ibrahim Solih. Later, elections were held in which Muizzu won and took charge of Maldives. Muizzu had visited India just three months ago on June 9 during the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In February, India had agreed to withdraw its 80 military personnel. This process took place between March 10 and May 10. The special thing is that Muizzu, who is considered pro-China, contested the elections in Maldives on the issue of ‘India Out’. Shortly after winning, he put forward the demand of withdrawing military personnel in front of India. Not only this, Maldives also refused to renew an agreement of 2019.
After this, the comments made by three ministers of the Muizzu government on Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep had created a lot of controversy. Voices of protest against Maldives tourism had started rising in India. Actually, Indians have a very high share in Maldives tourism.
