Page 10 - The Indian EYE 122223

OPINION DECEMBER 22, 2023 | The Indian Eye 10

Change of Government

in Maldives and the Reasons

Behind #IndiaOut Campaign

India has been the first responder to each of Maldives’ political, economic, and natural disasters. Despite
this, the generation and seeming acceptance of an anti-India sentiment due to dis-information campaigns is

significant. Popular perceptions got manipulated which in turn changed the domestic political dynamics

TEJUSVI SHUKLA The shift in Maldives foreign policy is not sudden. It is a result of a simmering anti-India sentiment dating back to at least a decade (IDSA)

resident Mohammed Muizzu
of Maldives confirmed on 4 attempting to impinge on Male’s Yameen’s administration, marked dubious infrastructure project deals
PDecember 2023 that an agree- sovereignty. These sentiments got by an unequivocal pro-China stance, with Chinese-owned companies and
ment was reached with India for the briefly stabilised under the Solih entered into a series of opaque infra- human rights abuses. He lost in 2018
withdrawal of over 70 troops de- government since 2018, but peaked structure agreements with Chinese elections, and Ibrahim Solih became
ployed in the archipelago nation for during the 2023 presidential cam- state-owned enterprises. During the the president.
Humanitarian Assistance and Disas- paign. five years of his rule, as the country Solih reaffirmed the tradition-
ter Relief (HADR) and training pur- Moreover, this is not an organ- slid into various Chinese ‘debt trap’ al ‘India First’ policy and his tenure
poses. This statement was made after ically generated sentiment. It has investments, his governments’ con- was marked by the re-signing of the
his return from the UAE and Turkey. been actively fanned, and is reflec- scious efforts at framing the cognitive agreement relating to the Dhruv
Two Dhruv Advanced Light tive of undertones of a well-craft- environment by raising an India-pho- helicopters. Furthermore, in 2021,
Helicopters and a Dornier aircraft ed war of narratives that facilitated bic campaign began. India and the Maldives entered into
are expected to continue to be de- the changing domestic realities in A popular discourse emerged the Uthura Thila Falu (UTF) devel-
ployed in the Maldives. Muizzu had the country. The foreign policy shift surrounding the agreement for re- opment deal concerning port con-
requested India to withdraw its mili- has witnessed a leap from a call for ceiving two Indian Dhruv Advanced struction. While Solih’s ascendancy
tary personnel formally when he met ‘India First’ under former President Light Helicopters and an accompa- provided some respite for New Del-
the Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Ibrahim Solih to ‘India Out’ that was nying contingent of Indian armed hi, the anti-India sentiment among
Rijiju in Male on 18 November 2023. central to Muizzu’s presidential cam- personnel, integral to the training of the population kept simmering. The
This was also a key election cam- paign. the Maldives National Defense Forc- controversial discourse surrounding
paign promise of the incumbent, who es for helicopter operations. Raging Indian military presence re-emerged
took over power in September 2023. TRACING THE TRAJECTORY disinformation campaigns gener- in the form of the ‘India Out’ cam-
The shift in Maldives foreign The genesis of the India Out ated social panic suggesting Indian paign in print as well as social media
policy is not sudden. It is a result of a campaign in the Maldives can be designs to impinge on the nation’s and on the Maldivian streets. Nota-
simmering anti-India sentiment dat- traced back to the political land- sovereignty. By 2015, Yameen ter- bly, the Indian High Commission be-
ing back to at least a decade, which scape of 2013, when the government minated the agreement with India. came a focal point for expressions of
played up fears of India gradually of Abdulla Yameen assumed power. Yameen’s tenure was marred with Continued on next page... >>

www.TheIndianEYE.com