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The Maldivian government should have apologised and President Mohamed Muizzu should have reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sorted out the diplomatic crisis, former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb said on Monday as he described the derogatory comments against the Indian leader as "unacceptable."
A row erupted on social media last week when a minister and some other leaders in the Maldives used derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Modi after he posted a video of him on a pristine beach in Lakshadweep.
On Sunday, the Maldivian government suspended three ministers who posted "derogatory remarks" against Modi and distanced itself from their comments on social media, saying these opinions are "personal and do not represent the views of the Government".
The development came after Opposition leaders slammed the "appalling language" used by the officials against the Indian leader.
"I believe that this is something which should have never happened, which is not acceptable in any way. I believe that the Maldives government should have reacted more quickly with stern actions and reached out to India so that they should have never let this blow out for a big diplomatic crisis which has now been...," Adeeb told PTI in an interview.
Describing the comments as "uncalled for", he said that the ruling party has these "extreme elements" who are calling for India out.
"But when you are in the government, you should be more responsible because you are responsible for the livelihood of Maldives people and you should be diplomatic in matters like this," said Adeeb, a former tourism minister.
When asked to comment on the suspension of three ministers, Adeeb said, "They should have resigned...There should have been more strong action as well as it should have been done Sunday morning itself, but it was delayed until last night..."
Adeeb said that the government "should have put up an apology statement as well as President Muizzu should have reached out to Prime Minister Modi. Because these are not acceptable comments, this is racist and this is bigotry."
He said the derogatory remarks have hurt the sentiments of Indians "because Prime Minister Modi is not only the prime minister of India, but he's the global leader, the regional leader, and he has helped us. Even in COVID times, Maldives survived. The economy survived because of the Indian support and help. So I think the president should have reached out to the prime minister himself and sorted out this diplomatic crisis."
Noting that India has become the major tourism market for the Maldives post-COVID, he said that the crisis will hurt Maldives tourism.
"It will obviously hurt. And when tourism is hurt, it directly reflects on the economy, because the economy is also fragile and totally dependent on tourism. So we should take more action on resolving this as soon as possible...," he added.
When asked whether Maldives is now going close to China and distancing itself from India, he said, "Yes, I see that they are distancing themselves from India. That has been seen in the last 60 days."
President Muizzu, who is regarded as “pro-China”, is in China on a five-day state visit during which he is due to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and sign several agreements to bolster the bilateral ties.
"We'll know what direction it will head because we have to see what the agreements they're going to sign. What are the decisions they're going to make?" the former vice president said, commenting on the president's ongoing visit to China.
He suggested the current government to balance its foreign policy.
"We cannot be one-sided. We have to be more balanced and more friendly with all the nations and especially our neighbours so that we can go forward. India is going to be a 5 trillion economy, and I think Maldives, I believe Maldives should go hand in hand with India in their economic development as well as the development of our people," he added.
The Maldives is India's key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and occupies a special place in its initiatives like SAGAR' (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the Neighbourhood First Policy' of the Modi government.
The recent controversy erupted just before Muizzu's first state visit to China.
Muizzu has asked India to withdraw 77 Indian military personnel from the Maldives and his government has also decided to review more than 100 bilateral agreements between the two countries.