India may nudge Maldives President to solve internal issues

India is likely to subtly nudge Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to bury the hatchet with the Speaker of the country’s Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed, soon and deny China and its proxies in the Indian Ocean nation any opportunity to take advantage of the differences between the two.

Just hours after Solih arrived in New Delhi on Monday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on him and exchanged views on the ways to take the special partnership between the two nations forward. He told Solih that India’s “Neighbourhood First” and Maldives’ “India First” policies were complementary to each other.

Solih, who is likely to seek a second term in office next term, will also have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The President of Maldives is visiting India at a time when the infighting within his ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) reached a flashpoint after police in the island nation arrested the brother of the Speaker of the People’s Majlis, accusing him of homosexuality. Though New Delhi has a good rapport with both the leaders, it is unlikely to overtly play the role of a go-between to end the feud within the ruling party of the Indian Ocean nation.

A source told DH that New Delhi on Monday would convey to Solih this week and subsequently to Nasheed that India being a close and friendly neighbour of Maldives would like to see both leaders work together for the best interest of the island nation.

“President @ibusolih's administration has arrested my brother selectively accusing him of homosexuality. Arrest was made against criminal procedures & (and) is politically motivated to appease Hardline Extremists in coalition,” Nasheed, who himself held the office of President of Maldives from November 2008 to February 2012, tweeted on July 28. He has been accusing Solih of succumbing to the pressure of radical Jumhooree Party and Adhaalath Party – partners of the MDP in the ruling coalition.

He survived an assassination attempt in Malé on May 6, 2021, when the suspected religious extremists carried out an explosion near his home when he was getting into a car.

Nasheed is also opposed to Solih’s plan to renominate himself as the ruling MDP’s candidate to contest the next presidential elections in 2023.

The regime led by Abdulla Yameen, who had held the presidential office from November 2013 to November 2018, had put the Maldives into a debt trap by awarding the state-owned companies of China contracts to build several infrastructure projects – mostly on unsustainable loan terms. Yameen’s government had also got Nasheed arrested and put him on trial, accusing him of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act of Maldives by ordering the Criminal Court Judge's arrest during his tenure as president. He had been convicted and sentenced to 13 years in jail but had later been allowed to go to the United Kingdom for spinal surgery. He had returned home after Solih was elected as the President of Maldives in 2018.

Though Beijing’s influence over Abdullah Yameen regime had resulted in strains in New Delhi’s relations with Malé, it saw a reset after Solih and Nasheed led the Maldivian Democratic Party to victory in the November 2018 elections. Solih’s government has over the past few years been pursuing its “India First” policy, while Abdullah Yameen’s party, on the other hand, has been running an “India Out” campaign, which, according to New Delhi, is being sponsored by Beijing to elbow out India and pull the Indian Ocean island nation into China’s orbit of influence.