Come Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) darshan will be complete. Modi will travel to Maldives, for the first time, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, hoping that this gesture will help rejuvenate the ties between the two nations.
Maldives was the only country that been left out of Modi's grand touring with the intention of wooing the neighbours. While outgoing president Maldives Abdulla Yameen was present at the swearing-in ceremony of Modi in 2014 and later visited India in 2016, there had been no reciprocal visit. With Yameen batting openly for China, the relationship between the two countries soured considerably. Solih's win over Yameen has, however, given India another shot at cementing the relationship. And Modi's presence at the swearing-in ceremony will certainly send the right message.
The challenge for Maldives now begins with a new regime in place and India will need to do more to ensure that the relationship goes beyond just symbolism. Solih, who is the joint presidential candidate for the opposition alliance—which includes the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the Jumhooree Party and the Adhaalath Party—has indicated that there will be a review of contracts that have just been awarded to the Chinese. However, China has made deep inroads into the economy just like it did in Sri Lanka. With the Chinese debt at 150 per cent of the GDP of Maldives, the influence of the dragon in the nation, however, would not vanish overnight.
India will need more than just love to ensure that the Maldives romance lasts.
