The former president of Maldives and the current Speaker of the People’s Majlis (Parliament) of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, met with Shri Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor of India in New Delhi on Thursday. Mohamed Nasheed, during his visit to India, discussed bilateral security partnerships and enhancing regional security with the Indian NSA and called him the ‘grandmaster of geopolitics’.
It was very pleasant to have a conversation with a grandmaster of geopolitics. 🙏🏻 excellency #AjitDoval 🇲🇻 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/aQHDTrNy01
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) April 28, 2022
The former president of Maldives who also participated in Raisina Dialogues 2022, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics from 25th to 27th April, said, “Maldives wants a closer relationship with India. I am very certain of that. I wouldn’t say this because I am a politician, I wouldn’t say anything that would not give me more votes. I am so convinced that we can find an ever-closer relationship that is beneficial for both countries.”
Mohamed Nasheed also met his Indian counterpart, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla as well as the External Affairs minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar. Among other things, the speaker of parliament spoke about his equation with President Solih, his roadmap for reforms, a referendum on parliamentary form of democracy and much more.
Mohamed Nasheed’s visit comes at a crucial time, when the current Maldivian government has been facing criticism over allegations of Indian involvement in the island station and stationing of Indian military officers in its territory. The ‘India Out campaign’ is being spearheaded by former president Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM). Last week, Maldives President Ibrahim Solih signed a decree banning the ‘India Out’ campaign by stating it as a “threat to national security”.
Hinting at China’s involvement in the ‘India Out Campaign’, and the growing influence of China in the region, Mohamed Nasheed said that Maldives will not allow China to continue with its policy of “land grab and debt trap”. Accusing Abdulla Yameen of selling off more than a dozen islands to China during his tenure, he said that the Yameen has brought Maldives under massive debts. Calling Maldives as a “debt-ridden economy”, he said, “The bulk of these debts and the assets created by the debts are not equal…China has lent us a lot of money, but they have increased the prices of the projects intentionally, so that the businesses fail and we can never pay back the money from these assets.”
Quoting the example of Sri Lanka, Nasheed said, “So then we will fall into a debt trap, and then when we do that, they (China) ask for equity and we lose sovereignty and we lose control. I think it is important for the international community to understand what is happening with a number of countries.” The former president also cited joining China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) a mistake. He said, “It was a mistake that we took part in road and belt initiative.”
The former president assured that that Maldives shall always follow the “India First” policy for its continued support and partnership.
