The “Indian Military Out” campaign has gained further momentum as the silent intellectual majority of the current ruling party MDP along with the local nationalist movements have waken up and joined the calls to remove the Indian military presence in the Maldives.
While initially thought to be an opposition led political stunt, the movement has been widely accepted as a legitimate cause due to the current administration’s veil of secrecy surrounding its security agreements with India along with the ethically and morally questionable relation between the senior officials of both governments. The “Indian Military Out” campaign has in all essence become a national campaign to ensure the independence and sovereignty of the country.
MDP founding member Latheef’s daughter and activist Jenniffer Latheef tweets against Indian military presence in the Maldives.
This comes after drafts and details of the UTF naval base agreement, the hydrographic surveying agreement and the arrangements surrounding the Indian operated helicopters and Dornier aircrafts were made public by whistleblowers. The revelations from the leaks were further authenticated following the comments made by the Defence Minister Mariya Didi and Chief of Defence Force Major general Shamaal and other senior officials in response to the Parliament’s Committee on National Security Services.
The direness of the looming threat of Indian military and its political influence over the Maldivian archipelago has ultimately forced even the non-partisan members of the public to join the “Indian Military Out” campaign.
The campaign has also caught the attention of the international media as the Al Jazeera recently covered a segment on the campaign. All of this is ultimately due to the indiscrete and irresponsible conduct of officials from the Maldivian and Indian governments.
In particular, the former Indian High Commissioner Sunjay Sudhir, who has been repeatedly accused of meddling in domestic affairs by even senior officials within the current administration. His flogging of diplomacy and adoption of heavy-handed tactics has led to anti-Indian sentiments to fester in the local community, undoing decades of diplomacy and love between the peoples of the two countries. Former High Commissioner Sunjay Sudhir’s alleged meddling in domestic affairs ultimately forced the people of Maldives to voice against him and the growing Indian military presence in the Maldives.
However, though the locals resent Indian military presence in the Maldives, they continue to voice that they have no vendetta against India nor its people, but to respect the sovereignty of the Maldives. The public has also accused senior officials of the current administration of colluding with India beginning with the 2018 Presidential Election. While allegations of collusion were floating around even during the election, the notion gained credibility after the current ruling party’s President, former President Mohamed Nasheed admitted on an Indian news channel that India had meddled with the 2018 Presidential Election of the Maldives to allow the current ruling party to win.
While similar allegations were made against the ruling party during the 2019 Parliamentary Elections, the most recent such allegations were made against PGA Abdulla Shahid. Many have accused that India lobbied to elect him as the President of the UN General Assembly as a reward for him facilitating the expansion of Indian military presence all over the Maldives.
The legitimacy and the pressure on the current administration due to the “Indian Military Out” campaign is evident as current ruling party Chairperson buckled under pressure and called for transparency surrounding the secret security agreements. The growing momentum of the movement is set to face with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s self-proclaimed policy of “India First” and its willingness to choose India over its own citizens. Similar to the age-old question “what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”, the outcome of the situation cannot be clearly predicted but, the movement will prove decisive in shaping the future of Indo-Maldives relations and on a shorter term, the 2023 Presidential Election.