Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu denies pursuing 'India Out' agenda: Report

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu who is in USA to attend the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly has said denied pursuing an anti-India agenda. Mohamed Muizzu said that Maldives had a ”serious problem” with the presence of foreign military on its soil.

Muizzu made the remarks on Thursday while responding to a question at Princeton University’s “Dean’s Leadership Series”. ”We have never been against any one country at any point. It’s not India Out. Maldives faced a serious problem with foreign military presence on this soil,” Maldivian news portal adhadhu.com quoted him as saying.

”The people of Maldives do not want a single foreign soldier in the country,” Muizzu said.Muizzu also stressed that he had taken action against deputy ministers for insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. ”No one should say such a thing. I took action against it. I will not accept insulting anyone like that, whether he is a leader or an ordinary person. Every human being has a reputation,” the report quoted him as saying. Earlier this year, deputy ministers in Maldives’ youth ministry were suspended for derogatory social media posts against Prime Minister Modi following a backlash, with New Delhi strongly raising the matter with Male. The deputy ministers criticised Modi for his post on ’X’ following his visit to Lakshadweep, inferring that it was an attempt to project the Union Territory as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives. Prime Minister Modi was in Lakshadweep on January 2 and 3 to inaugurate several projects.

Muizzu had asked India to withdraw nearly 90 Indian military personnel operating three aviation platforms gifted by the country. India withdrew its military personnel by May 10 and replaced them with civilian personnel to operate a Dornier aircraft and two helicopters.

*With Agency Inputs