New Delhi: When he lands in Malé airport late afternoon on Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have finally visited all the countries in India’s neighbourhood. It is a milestone that has taken four years and five months and a change of leadership in the Indian ocean nation.
Modi’s own oath-taking ceremony on May 27, 2014 was attended by Abdulla Yameen, the Maldives president. But, the Indian PM never reciprocated with a return visit – till today.
With five Indian states set for elections, Modi has many demands on his schedule. He will spend less than four hours in Maldives, as per the official itinerary.
Also Read: Modi Embraces Maldives as Mohamed Solih Takes Office, China out of Favour
The Indian prime minister’s presence is highly symbolic – indicating a higher level of investment from New Delhi in the success of the new government, as well as, demonstrating the width of trust deficit during Yameen’s regime.
“I will convey to the new Maldivian Government of Mr. Solih the desire of my Government to work closely for realisation of their developmental priorities, especially in areas of infrastructure, health care, connectivity and human resource development,” said Modi in a statement on the eve of his departure day.
He added that his “will herald a new era of even closer exchanges and cooperation between our two countries”.
Despite initial apprehensions from the joint opposition about electoral fraud by the ruling party, veteran politician Solih won a solid 58.4% of the votes, defeating incumbent Yameen with a margin of 38,653 votes cast on September 23.
The first two weeks of the 55-day transition period was rocky. Yameen had accepted the results a day after the counting, but he quickly changed his position and claimed that the Election Commission had fudged the counting.
The political uncertainty was resolved only with the Maldivian security forces expressing support for the president-elect and the Supreme Court backing the results unanimously.
While Yameen and his party has remained quiescent, they continue to hustle to find their political space out of power.
With an eye on parliamentary elections next year, Yameen’s spokesperson announced on Friday – the last day of his term – that he will boycott the ceremony that will herald his successor.
His spokesperson tweeted late Friday night that Yameen has decided not to attend the presidential inauguration based on the wishes of his supporters, who felt that “justice” has not been delivered.
Yameen would avoid attending the ceremony where many of the opposition leaders whom he had jailed – including his half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and former president Mohamed Nasheed – would be celebrating their victory.
It would mean that Modi will also not come face-to-face with Yameen, who had steered Maldives towards China despite his self-professed “India first” policy. Incidentally, the last Indian prime minister to visit Maldives was Manmohan Singh in 2011, when president Mohamed Nasheed hosted Saarc summit.
Ibu Solih. Credit: Reuters
Only head of state to be present
Modi will be the only head of state to be present at the inauguration – a phenomena that required considerable diplomatic manoeuvring by both India and Maldives.
New Delhi was keen that Modi’s first trip to Maldives would not be overshadowed by any other heads of state who would also need to be accorded similar diplomatic protocol.
Due to the high security, the ceremony had to be changed from an open public event to an invitation-based event at the Maldives national football stadium.
Several roads in Malé will be shut down on Saturday for around three to five hours due to the presence of foreign visitors.
In total, “high level dignitaries” from 46 countries will be present at the ceremony, according to the Maldivian foreign ministry.
China had been a major source of tourists, financier and builder of several big infrastructure projects in Maldives during Yameen’s regime.
Also Read: Yameen Concedes Defeat, Modi Speaks to President-Elect Solih
A year ago, Maldives parliament, which was controlled by Yameen’s ruling party and boycotted by the opposition, had ratified a free trade agreement with China. India’s annoyance had led to Yameen sending his foreign minister as special envoy to assuage Delhi’s concerns.
The Maldivian opposition had promised a review of Chinese projects in their election promises. There is some alarm that the new government could be scrambling to service Chinese loan debts which could be nearly $3 billion.
Beijing has sent Chinese tourism and culture minister Luo Shugang will be attending the ceremony to witness the oath-taking ceremony.
Former president Abdulla Yameen syeered Maldives towards China. Credit: Fred Dufour/Pool via REUTERS
The Sri Lanka connection
From neighbouring Sri Lanka, former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was extended a personal invitation from Solih.
While Sri Lanka continues to roil through a constitutional crisis, two ministers from the cabinet led by Mahinda Rajapaksa – which has lost two no-confidence motions amidst disruptions in Sri Lankan parliament – would be also present in Malé.
Several of the Maldivian opposition members, including president Nasheed, had been operating from Colombo during their years in exile.
Close to the Maldivian opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government had been instrumental in persuading Yameen to allow Nasheed to leave Maldives for medical treatment during his incarceration in January 2016. Earlier this month, Nasheed returned triumphantly to Maldives even though his conviction has still not been overturned by the court.
Pakistan will be represented by chairman of the senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani. Indicating Pakistan’s close ties with Yameen, the first foreign visitor after the lifting of the state of emergency had been the Pakistani army chief.
In 2016, Maldives had broken off diplomatic ties with Iran, even as Saudi Arabia had stepped up financial support for diplomatically-isolated Yameen government which was facing criticism from the US and western countries.
Several wealthy Arab royal families also had close ties with Maldivian governments, amidst reports that several of them owned island properties to spend their holidays in the Indian ocean nation.
UAE crown prince’s son Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Saudi King’s advisor Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud and Morrocan King’s special envoy, Mounia Boucetta, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation are the key invitees from the Gulf.
Palestinian foreign minister Riad Maliki will also be one of the attendees. Maldives, in line with its membership of Organisation of Islamic Conference, does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.