Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu reached New Delhi on Sunday.
Last year, Muizzu had given the ‘India Out’ slogan during the presidential elections, which had worsened relations between India and Maldives.
After coming to power, Muizzu also sent the Indian Army back from Maldives. However, Muizzu, who has close relations with China, realized India’s strength when Indian tourists turned away from Maldives and the economic condition of the island nation started deteriorating.
In a hurry, Maldives started making fresh efforts to improve relations with India.
Maldives’ First Lady Sajida Mohammed has also reached New Delhi along with Mohammed Muizzu. This is Muizzu’s first bilateral visit with India.
During this, he will meet President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and many others. Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh welcomed him.
Muizzu is on a visit to India from October 6-10 on the official invitation of President Draupadi Murmu. Recently, during the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Muizzu told ANI that he is planning to visit India as soon as possible. He also praised the very strong bilateral relations between the two countries.
Mohammad Muizzu had told ANI, “I am planning to visit (India) as soon as possible… We have very strong bilateral relations.”
This is Muizzu’s second visit to India this year, before which he had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June.
It is noteworthy that as per the earlier tradition, almost every President of Maldives used to make his first foreign trip to India, but after assuming office, Muizzu changed this trend by visiting Turkey and then China.
Due to this the relations between India and Maldives had deteriorated. Since coming to power, the Muizzu government has taken several steps which have been unconventional in terms of India-Maldives relations.
The aim is to rebuild relationships
Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu’s visit to India is aimed at reviving relations which have been under strain since November. Relations between India and Maldives came under serious strain after the China-friendly Muizzoo took charge as President in November.
Within hours of taking oath, Muizzu had demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. After this the Indian military personnel were replaced by civilians.
At the same time, when Muizzu went to China, he signed 20 agreements including tourism with President Xi Jinping. At the beginning of this year, some ministers of Maldives had given objectionable statements against PM Modi, which further deteriorated the relations.
However, Muizzu had made efforts to improve relations by taking action against the ministers.
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