The Maldives government on Monday informed India’s High Commissioner Munu Muhawar that the derogatory remarks made by three now-suspended deputy ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi do not represent the country’s views. India summoned Maldivian envoy Ibrahim Shaheeb on Monday to the external affairs ministry and conveyed strong concern over remarks posted on social media against the Prime Minister by several ministers of the Maldives government.
The ministers, Maryam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef and Mahzoom Majid had made derogatory comments on social media platforms against the PM, which sparked a massive uproar. Following this, many, including celebrities, urged people to explore domestic tourist destinations instead of going to the neighbouring country, which lies off the southwestern coast of India.
How did it all start?
PM Modi posted a series of tweets on January 4 about his recent trip to the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. The PM mentioned the various initiatives by the government and also shared photos of him snorkelling in the sea.
“For those who wish to embrace the adventurer in them, Lakshadweep has to be on your list. During my stay, I also tried snorkelling – what an exhilarating experience it was!” PM wrote, sharing the pictures.
The photos were widely shared on social media, with users saying that this will provide a much-needed impetus to tourism in Lakshadweep and will be a “big setback to the new Chinese puppet government of Maldives”.
Following this, Zahid Rameez, a Maldivian MP, said, “The move is great. However, the idea of competing with us is delusional. How can they provide the service we offer? How can they be so clean? The permanent smell in the rooms will be the biggest downfall.”
Deputy Minister at the Maldives Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information, and Art Shiuna also made derogatory remarks about Modi, calling the PM a “clown” and a “puppet”. She later deleted her disparaging social media posts. Majod had flagged the “challenges” India will face while competing with Maldives in beach tourism. Majid also tagged PM Modi and spoke about open defecation, the posts have now been deleted.
What followed after that?
In response to posts by Maldivians, Indian social media users have vowed not to travel to Maldives and “boycott” them and instead visit the Union Territory.
Former cricketer Virendra Sehwag wrote on X, “Bharat is known for converting all Aapda into Avsar, and this dig at our country and our Prime Minister by Maldives ministers is a great Avsar for Bharat to create just the necessary infrastructure to make them attractive to tourists and boost our economy. Please do name your favourite unexplored beautiful places.”
Responding to this post on X, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan said, “Viru paji…this is so relevant and in the right spirit of our land .. our own are the very best .. I have been to Lakshadweep and Andamans and they are such astonishingly beautiful locations .. stunning waters beaches and the underwater experience is simply unbelievable. We are Bharat. We are Atmanirbhar. Our self-reliance should not be questioned. Jai hind.”
Other actors, including Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan, Salman Khan, Shraddha Kapoor along with veteran cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatesh Prasad and Virender Sehwag have also appealed to people to visit domestic locations instead of foreign places.
Producer Ektaa Kapoor said she had returned to X to say that she would take her son to Lakshadweep for an adventure holiday.
“No more ‘mall’ !!! Time to dive into d ‘dweep’ #IndianTourism (sic)” Kapoor said in an apparent reference of pitching the Indian island over the Maldives.
Not just this, travel booking website EaseMyTrip on Monday said it has suspended all flight bookings to the island nation on its website “in solidarity” with India.
Is Maldives at a loss?
Yes, certainly. Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is home to nearly 1,200 tiny coral islands that stretch along a length of 871 kilometres. According to the Maldives tourism ministry statistics, more than 2.09 lakh Indians visited the island nation in 2023. The number was more than 2.4 lakh in 2022 while over 2.11 lakh Indians flew to the Maldives in 2021. The Maldives was also one of the few countries open for international tourists during the pandemic and nearly 63,000 Indians visited the country in that period.
In 2018, India was the fifth-largest source of tourist arrivals in the Maldives with 90,474 visitors. In 2019, India reached the second spot with nearly double the number (1,66,030) of arrivals compared to the previous year.
