What behind the 'India Out' campaign in the Maldives? | Inside Story

India Out, that's the slogan some opposition parties in the Maldives have been repeating for more than two years now, claiming the government is selling their country to India.
The campaign, now banned by the government, started in 2020 as street protests - quickly gaining traction on social media.
Those behind it say they only oppose India's small military presence in the Maldives, and are not against trade, cultural and other ties.
What does that mean for the close ties between India and the Maldives?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra

Guests:

Hamdhan Shakeel, Founder and Editor at Maldives News Network.
Uday Chandra, Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University Doha.
Nitin Gokhale, CEO and Editor-in-Chief at Strategic News Global.


#Maldives #India

[iwaiteddaystochangemynam]

"How biased are you ?"
Al Jazeera : "Yes"

[TheNasher]

Qatar has Turkish, American and british military bases. Whats your opinion on them AL JALZEERA.

[hussaenhozone]

I am proud Maldivian. I am not against any country.
But I also don't want any forging military presence in the Maldives. Whether it is India, Pakistan, China, or USA.

[sendakan]

Maldivians are a proud people who will not tolerate foreign militaries on their soil. It is not good pointing fingers at India which is by far the most important partner to the Maldives. On the other hand, it is also not a good idea to constrain free speech. These sorts of problems are inevitable when foreign countries are needlessly dragged into domestic politics.

[naaniali]

As a Maldivian, I fully Acknowledge and Appreciate the Support/Help given by the Indian Governments.

However, banning or curbing Peaceful Protest by the Maldivian People (any political parties/Non-Allied citizen) is not very Democratic.

The Issue with Indian Military Stationed in some Islands in the Maldives needs to be more Transparent, so the people of Maldives understands that there is nothing to worry.

[janardhansr]

For those maldivians who cry india out just remember when makdivians were attacjed no one was there to help except indian army

[suyashjain]

*Al jazeera take blo*j*b of india....full time india india india😂*

[Sanskar-]

Approx 26% of tourist coming in Maldives are Indians and 2% are Non Residential Indians who contribute to 32% to overall tourism GDP of maldives...
Soar relations with India would not be good for Maldives ....
Btw the "India Out" campaign is wholly funded by Chinese government so they can reduce India's footprint and increase their will on Maldivians
They did "India-Japan out" campaign in SriLanka and now Hambantota port is for 99 years lease for Chinese

[yookhshameem]

As a Maldivian I want an illegal Bangladeshi immigrants out campaign lol

[rezwanroni]

#' India Out' campaign in Bangladesh

[rajput]

Qatar have American base ..but their is no democracy in Qatar so no free speech...i never seen boycott American slogan in qatar ..but lot of American soldiers prasent in qatari soil ..

[ankurkhandelwal]

India should exit Maldives. We should let Maldives go srilanka way.

[captainking]

I do understand that there might be few concerns in some quarters of the Maldiveian civil society. However it is vital for all Indian Ocean nations to come together in some form to ensure a regional sovereignty which is currently under threat by the You Know Who of the world. Maldives is an ally and Indians love to visit Maldives so social and economic ties are Rock solid. No harm if the two nations build on the security relationship as well. It will in the end benefit the whole region 😊

[jpvmvcb]

Long Live India 🇮🇳 and Maldives 🇲🇻 relationships and ties. 🌹 The "India out" campaign is a Chinese propaganda being spread by their paid opposition parties so that China can increase its presence in Maldives. Hopefully this will never happen. 💞

[doctorspock]

You don’t need Modis saffron fascists in Maldives

[mohammedanuwer]

Please think about the Rohingya people

[mahgraphs]

The opposition is definitely using it for their political cause but it's still a real concern for Maldivians, we do not want military presence of any other country here.

[hagdore]

Great. Can we have an "India Out" campaign here in Australia too? PLEASE!

[priyanshusharma]

India never had intentions of military intervention in any of our neighbourhood, but we however want to request maldive people to look out for chinese peopoganda artist in you country, they are the biggest threat to your soveringnity , just look how srilankans are facing the problems caused by mistake of Chinese sponsored leaders

[rahulshine]

I am an Indian. I support this regime and they truly deserve it.

India should stop meddling and investing in Maldives and gloriously kick Maldives in china's lap.

For how long will blackmail and begging and aids of Maldives should be tolerated by India?

India should immediately ceaze its diplomatic relations with Maldives.