The government of the Maldives on Sunday suspended three deputy ministers for making disparaging remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
One of India’s largest travel companies suspended bookings to the Maldives on Monday as the diplomatic row escalated, a serious step given how much the Maldives depends upon Indian tourism.
The controversy began when three deputy ministers in the Maldives Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information, and Arts took umbrage at Modi for promoting tourism to the islands of Lakshadweep in a video.
Lakshadweep is an archipelago off the southwestern Indian coast that bears a considerable resemblance to the famed beaches of the Maldives. Modi paid a visit to Lakshadweep last week, went snorkeling, praised the natural beauty of the archipelago, and advised fellow “beach lovers” to give the islands a try.
Modi’s recommendation caused Indian search engine traffic for Lakshadweep to explode and, within a few days, global searches for the islands reached a 20-year high. MakeMyTrip, one of India’s top travel agencies, reported a 3,400-percent surge of interest in Lakshadweep on its website after Modi’s snorkeling adventure.
This news was not welcomed in the Maldives, where some residents felt Modi was trying to steal tourism revenue by touting Lakshadweep as an alternative. Modi’s government has indeed been sponsoring a celebrity campaign to convince Indian tourists to visit domestic attractions instead of traveling abroad. Last year, Modi suggested Indian couples should plan their weddings at domestic vacation spots instead of traveling abroad to get married.
“If we celebrate the festivities of marriages on Indian soil, amid the people of India, the country’s money will remain in the country,” Modi suggested at an investment summit in December.
The thousand-plus islands of the Maldives archipelago are covered with luxury hotels, and those hotels are usually teeming with Indian tourists. The Maldives derives about 28 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, and over 90 percent of its government revenue, from tourism. Indians are the largest group of tourists, followed by Russians, Chinese, English, and Germans.
Maldivians responded with a social media campaign promoting their islands under the hashtag #VisitMaldives. Some of the posts to that hashtag were more angry than inviting, and some Maldivian politicians made intemperate comments that were noted and amplified by Indians.
For example, a political leader in the Maldives named Zahid Rameez sneered that India was “delusional” for thinking it could compete with the Maldives as a tourist destination. Rameez backpedaled and insisted he has “nothing personal against India, Indians, or Prime Minister His Excellency Narendra Modi” after an Indian celebrity screen-capped and reposted his comments.
Three deputy youth ministers named Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna, and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid took things to the next level with social media posts that called Modi a “clown,” a “terrorist,” and a “puppet of Israel” (Islam is the state religion of the Maldives, and all of its officials are required to be Sunni Muslims).
Indians expressed outrage at these comments, prompting the Maldives Foreign Ministry to announce that “derogatory remarks” against foreign leaders will not be tolerated on social media. The national administration said the remarks “do not represent the views of the Government of Maldives.” The three deputy ministers were suspended from their offices on Sunday.
On Friday, MakeMyTrip launched a “Beaches of India” campaign to attract travelers interested in Lakshadweep and other domestic alternatives to the Maldives. Another platform called EaseMyTrip announced “crazy special officers” for Lakshadweep, specifically praising the Lakshadweep beaches for being “as good as the Maldives and Seychelles.”
On Monday, EaseMyTrip went further and suspended all bookings to the Maldives “indefinitely.”
“We decided to take this step because any self-respecting nation should do this. The statements which we heard from the representatives of the Maldives government were extremely derogatory to the country,” said EaseMyTrip cofounder and executive director Prashant Pitti.
The Modi government “strongly raised and expressed concerns” with the Maldives Foreign Ministry on Sunday, and on Monday, New Delhi summoned the Maldivan envoy to lodge a formal complaint.
Monday also happened to be the day that Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu departed for a week-long trip to China, a state visit widely seen as a deliberate snub to India.
Muizzu campaigned on a promise to end the “India first” foreign policy of his predecessor and remove the small contingent of about 75 Indian troops who have long been stationed in the Maldives. Almost every incoming Maldivian chief executive makes India their first destination for state visits, but Muizzu went to Turkey instead. Chinese dictator Xi Jinping personally invited Muizzu to make his trip to China.
“China and Muizzu’s party enjoy good ties, with the former’s influence in the island nation becoming visible in the past few years. As many as 10 islands in the Maldives have been leased to China and the latter is also reportedly stationing ships there and conducting military operations on a large scale,” India Today pointed out on Friday, providing a geopolitical context for the growing spat over tourism between India and the Maldives.
