IndiaTheNews Exclusive: What help has India given to Maldives so far? Has Mohamed Muizzu shot himself in the foot by adopting an anti-India stance?

This week in IndiaTheNews News Network’s special program Shaurya Path, we wanted to know from Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) that how do you view the comments of three Maldivian ministers against the Prime Minister of India? We also wanted to know what help has Maldives received from India so far? We also wanted to know that at present the President of Maldives is on a visit to China, what harm can this cause to India? In response, he said that India has helped Maldives in every way since its emergence as a nation. He said that India always follows the ‘Neighborhood First Policy’ but recently it has been seen that despite our efforts, some neighbors have fallen prey to China’s tricks due to greed for money. However, by the time he came to his senses, he had already suffered a lot. He said that India helped the debt-ridden Maldives by continuously providing financial assistance, invested crores of rupees in infrastructure projects there, and provided food and vaccines during times of famine and epidemics. Helped in building the tourism sector there but the new government of Maldives is eyeing India to get closer to China. He said that however, China has also taken out all the arrogance of the Maldivian President because when he reached Beijing, it sent junior officials to welcome him and the Maldivian President was also not informed about the entire itinerary of his visit to China during his arrival. .

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that India has always stood by Maldives in good and bad times. India was one of the first countries to recognize the island nation after its independence in 1965 and has since established diplomatic relations with the country. He said that in 1988, India came forward to help Maldives to foil the coup attempt by Abdulla Luthoofi. The coup, then backed by the Sri Lankan terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was neutralized by India under the mission code-named ‘Operation Cactus’.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that defense and security has been a major area of ​​cooperation between the two countries since 1988. India provides the largest number of training opportunities for the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF). A Ministry of External Affairs document also said that India meets about 70 percent of the defense training requirements of Maldives. If seen, India has trained a large number of MNDF in the last 10 years. Maldivian security forces have also increased their strength by conducting several joint exercises with India. In addition, the Indian Navy has provided aerial surveillance equipment and a large number of naval equipment to the MNDF. The MNDF also actively participates in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, search and rescue, pollution control and other exercises conducted by India.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that apart from this, India has implemented many development projects in Maldives. It also includes the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, which was built in 1995 with Indian grant aid. The hospital was renovated in 2017 under the Modi government. In addition, the Maldives Institute of Technical Education, now known as Maldives Polytechnic, was completed at a cost of Rs 12 crore and was handed over by India to the Government of Maldives in 1996. Additionally, he said, the foundation stone of the India-Maldives Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Studies was jointly laid by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Maldivian President Abdul Gayoom in Maldives in September 2002. Apart from this, India became the third largest trading partner of Maldives in 2021, he said. Indian exports to Maldives included engineering and industrial products such as drugs and pharmaceuticals, radar equipment, cement and agricultural products such as rice, spices, fruits, vegetables and poultry.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that India has always provided prompt assistance to Maldives during natural disasters. He said India was the first country to assist Maldives during the 2004 tsunami. Also, when there was water crisis in Male in December 2014, India even sent water. He said that being the nearest neighbor of Maldives, the assistance provided by India covers many sectors like defence, education, healthcare and infrastructure. He said India is engaged in expeditiously completing several infrastructure and development projects in the Maldives including the airports at Hanimadhoo and Gan Islands, the Greater Male Connectivity Project as well as the development of Gulhifalhu Port. He said that the biggest project that India is currently undertaking in Maldives is the Greater Male Connectivity Project in which a 6.74 km long bridge will connect the capital of Maldives Male with three adjacent islands – Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi, thereby reducing travel time. . For this, India has approved 500 million US dollars.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi ji (Retd) said that apart from this India is helping Maldives through management of roads, street lighting and drainage etc. Under another major project, Gulhifalhu Port is also being developed by India to reduce the burden from the congested Male Commercial Port. He said the largest grant project being implemented by India in Maldives is the National College for Police and Law Enforcement at a cost of Rs 222.98 crore. Apart from helping in setting up state-of-the-art cancer treatment facilities, India has also provided Rs 52 crore for the development of Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, which will connect over 150 health centers on different islands, he said. . He said that in the field of education, India helped in setting up the Institute of Technical Education in 1996. Apart from this, India has also launched a program for vocational training under a US$ 5.3 million project to provide training to teachers and youth of Maldives.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that on 17 November 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the swearing-in ceremony of the then President Ibrahim Solih. He also held bilateral talks with Solih right after his swearing-in ceremony. A month later, Solih visited India on his first foreign trip after assuming office. During that time India had announced a financial assistance package of $ 1.4 billion for Maldives. He said that apart from this, SBI of India is still the largest bank of Maldives and is the mainstay of the economy there.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that as far as Indians are concerned in helping the tourism sector of Maldives, the figures show that Indians are the largest number of people traveling to Maldives as tourists and Covid More than two lakh Indians have been visiting the island nation every year since the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that according to data from the Maldives Tourism Ministry, more than 2.03 lakh Indians are expected to visit the island country in 2023. In the year 2022 this number was more than 2.4 lakh and in 2021 more than 2.11 lakh Indians visited Maldives. Maldives is one of the few countries that remained open to international tourists during the pandemic and during that time about 63,000 Indians chose Maldives for tourism. He said that in 2018, Indians stood fifth in the number of visitors to Maldives with 90,474 visitors. In 2019, India reached the second position in this case with almost double the number (1,66,030) compared to the previous year. However, the favorite destination country for Indians is now facing criticism after three ministers of the Maldives government made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Modi, he said.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that as far as the visit of Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu to China is concerned, it is being told that during this, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Muizzu will further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries. Will discuss on doing. Both the leaders will also sign many agreements. He said that India is keeping an eye on the visit of the President of Maldives to China. However, it has also been heard that he will also visit India. He said that first of all the President of Maldives has to stop the political turmoil in his country.