India-Maldives row deepens: Boycott campaign intensifies

Recent anti-Indian sentiments expressed by Maldivian junior ministers who were later suspended by their government turned out to be a major blow to diplomatic ties between the Maldives and India.

The social media took the matter to another level, resulting in effective “Boycott Maldives” campaigns both online and offline in the past few days by Indians.

The Maldivian ministers’ comments were directed at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indians in general following his recent visit to Lakshadweep. The visit was interpreted as a “checkmate” for the Maldives by Mr. Modi’s supporters after the new Maldivian government, which is close to Beijing. The new government made it a priority to remove Indian military personnel who were stationed in the archipelago, as it was one of the election pledges during the campaigns.

With angry patriotic Indians, Bollywood celebrities, and travel companies taking the social media platforms to express their feelings, India’s External Affairs Ministry also summoned the Maldivian Ambassador to South Block to express its displeasure.

Even the leading corporate collectives such as the influential Indian Chamber of Commerce also joined the campaign with its Chairman Dr. Subhash Goyal urging Indian business entities to join the boycott call as a ‘patriotic Indian in the larger national interest’.

He issued a statement, saying,

“This is in spite of the fact that Indians are one of the biggest sources of foreign exchange and creation of jobs in the Maldives. Please divert all such enquiries to Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands which are even better than Maldives in many ways, and other destinations which can be promoted in the Indian Ocean area are Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bali, and Phuket.”

Amidst all the chaos, an ordinary Indian citizen stressed on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that they require ‘prior approvals’ from multiple Indian government agencies before visiting the Indian islands, whereas to visit the Maldives where Indians are welcomed with visa on arrival facility without much hassle.