India and Maldives row: Explained

The India-Maldives Row

What is the row between India and Maldives?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's posts of his holiday photos on social media have caused tensions between the two countries to boil over.

PM Modi simply posted pictures of him relaxing on Lakshadweep beach prompting Maldive's deputy minister and two of her colleagues to make some derogatory remarks calling him a clown and puppet of Israel.

It seems the visit by PM Modi to India's own island Lakshadweep caused panic in Maldives fearing Indian tourists visiting lakshadweep instead of Maldives. Their fear that If this happens then maldives will be hit severly as its economy depends on tourisim and 30% of tourists are from India.

Every year over 200,000 Indians visit Maldives for holidays and are the largest number of tourists coming from any country, followed by Russians, Chinese and other countries.

The fear of losing business to lakshadweep was enough to put the ministers on wrong foot and instead of finding creative ways to ensure tourists still prefer Maldives vs Lakshadweep, they thought it woud be easy to insult head of a state with their insults.

Maldives current goverment is pro China and came to power with anti-india sentiments, this is something internal being a soveriegn country, that's for politicians to decide but insulting head of a state, hurting sentiments of people of the country who patronise the most to them every year and contribute heavily to their economy was a foolish thing to do.

This resulted in a heavy backlash from all over India and leading bollywood celebrities such as Akhsay Kumar, Salman Khan, Kangana Ranawat and Cricket icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Shami stood in support of inviting people to visit Lakshadweep rather than visiting Maldives, a country which is being thankless with India's large contribution every year to their economy via tourism.

In their insulting remarks, they ministers also called Indians smelly and mocked that Lakshadweep can never be compared to Maldives which offers a better quality holiday environment as compared to Lakshadweep which is not still developed.

Seeing the backlash and #boycottmaldives hashtag trending heavily with over 4,000 flight tickets and over 15,000 hotel bookings cancelled, Maldives opposition parties and the ruling government soon realised the damage caused and suspended the three ministers responsible for making those remarks.

As the #boycottmaldives hashtag continued trending with cancellations pouring in, the President Mohammed Muizzu rushed to China pleading for China to send tourists to fill in the gap as Maldives depends solely on tourisim and now with 30% of Indian share lost, if the gap is not filled in, this could mean Maldives heading their way to bankruptcy simlar to it's neighbours Pakistan and Srilanka.

In a statement, the Maldives government said it was aware of “derogatory” comments made on social media but stressed the “opinions are personal” and do not represent its views.

The remarks could also be prompted by pressure from China as some experts believe, the newly developed friend of Maldives and the anti-India stand which got the current government elected.

This dispute not only underscores geopolitical complexities but also raises questions about its impact on tourism dynamics between the two nations. Delve into this exclusive coverage to grasp the unfolding tensions and the resounding support for Indian tourism.