Maldivian Minister Mariyam Shiuna, who previously made a derogatory post against India and PM Modi, has once again courted controversy. Despite the Maldives requesting help from India, and India extending a helping hand, the ruling party leader has come out to oppose accepting any assistance from India.
Notably, late at night on 6th April, the Maldivian Minister uploaded a post targeting the Maldivian opposition party MDP, and India’s ruling party BJP. The post, seeking support for the ruling Maldivian party PPM, mocks the Ashoka Chakra of the Indian National flag. The translated version of the tweet reads, “The MDP is heading towards the mouth. We need not fall into their mouth again.”
The post also included a morphed election campaign poster of the opposition party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), replacing the image of a compass with an image of Ashoka Chakra. This has been seen as an insult to the Indian flag.
The image of the fake poster also included the symbols of BJP along with the symbol of MDP, accusing of collusion between the two parties. Notably, MDP has been highly critical of Mohamed Muizzu government’s anti-India policy.
However, later Mariyam Shiuna deleted the tweet.
Responding to the post, political commentator Mr. Sinha raised questions on the double-speak of the Maldivian ruling party led by the incumbent President Mohamed Muizzu. He asserted that the Indian government should confront the Maldivian President as on one hand they are requesting for India’s help. However, on the other hand, their Minister is opposing India’s help and abusing the Indian national flag.
He wrote, “Translation of the tweet by Maldivian Minister: MDP is heading towards a big slip. The people of Maldives don’t want to fall and slip with them. She’s opposing Indian help & abusing our national flag… Dear @narendramodi @DrSJaishankar, you need to grill @MMuizzu. One side Muizzu requesting India for help & other side he’s allowing his ministers to abuse India..”
Incidentally, machine translation of different languages often produces varied interpretations that convey the same underlying meaning.
Pertinent to note that the diplomatic ties between both nations have been strained ever since President Muizzu, who led the ‘India-out’ campaign during elections, assumed power in November last year. Following his victory, he has been pressing India to completely pull out its troops from Maldives. However, the ties worsened after several Maldivian Ministers made derogatory posts against India and Indians.
However, despite strained ties, India had recently permitted the export of essential commodities at the request of the Maldives government. Afterward, Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer thanked India for a “gesture which signifies the longstanding friendship”. Responding to his post, Indian FM Dr. S Jaishankar replied, “You are welcome, FM @MoosaZameer. India stands firmly committed to its Neighbourhood First and SAGAR policies.”
You are welcome, FM @MoosaZameer.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) April 6, 2024
India stands firmly committed to its Neighbourhood First and SAGAR policies. https://t.co/mKYOYu2aM9
But the latest controversial tweet by Maldivian Minister Mariyam Shiuna could end up in the redux of the last social media sparring between the two countries.
How Maldivian Ministers’ post following PM Modi’s Lakshadweep visit triggered diplomatic Row last time
After PM Modi visited Lakshadweep, political commentator Raushan Sinha shared PM Modi’s video ‘promoting tourism in Lakshadweep’. Mr. Sinha asserted that it is a “big setback to the new Chinese puppet govt of Maldives”.
The post irked Mariyam Shiuna, Maldives’ Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Information and Arts. The Maldivian leader responded to Mr. Sinha’s post by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “clown” and a “puppet of Israel”, which she later deleted. It is worth noting that PM Modi did not mention the Maldives anywhere in his tweets.
The Indian government had raised strong objections with the Maldivian government against the remarks made by Mariyam Shiuna.
Shiuna, along with two more ruling party leaders in the Maldives, were later suspended.
On their part, several Indians announced a boycott of their trip to Maldives. After the boycott trend in India, Maldives, whose economy depends on tourism, approached China urging Beijing to send more tourists to their nation. Following massive backlash from India and Maldives opposition parties, President Muizzu appealed to India to provide debt relief calling India their “closest ally”.
In the form of permission to export essential commodities at the request of the Maldives government, India had helped the Maldives but the seeming thaw in diplomatic strain could suffer again because of controversial post by Maldivian Minister.
