Indian Excessive Commissioner to the Maldives Munu Mahawar was on Monday summoned by the Maldivian International Ministry, hours after New Delhi did the identical in an escalating diplomatic row.
Earlier on Monday, Exterior Affairs Ministry summoned Maldivian envoy Ibrahim Shaheeb amid the continuing controversy over insulting remarks in opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following his go to to Lakshadweep and his push to advertise tourism within the archipelago.
The India-Maldives row stems from social media after a number of Maldivian ministers posted offensive remarks in opposition to PM Modi, with one minister calling him a “clown” and a “puppet”, after his ‘Go to Lakshadweep’ push for selling tourism within the Union Territory.
A number of Indians began trending ‘Boycott Maldives’ on social media after the remarks went viral, evaluating Lakshadweep with the Maldives. Many Indian celebrities, together with Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Hardik Pandya, Sachin Tendulkar and others, rallied in assist of PM Modi’s Lakshadweep pitch. They slammed Maldives, with Akshay Kumar writing on X that there was no want for “such unprovoked hate”.
The tit-for-tat transfer of New Delhi and Male got here a day after the Maldives distanced itself from its ministers – Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid – and stated in an announcement that their remarks had been their “personal” views and didn’t signify the nation.
A number of Maldivian politicians, together with former Presidents Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Mohamed Nasheed, condemned the ministers’ remarks, highlighting that such statements mustn’t harm the “age-old” friendship between the 2 nations.
