Boycott Maldives: Modi holiday snaps ignite row between India and island nation

The Maldives is facing a boycott by Indian tourists after three of its junior ministers made derogatory remarks about the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s holiday photos.

The ministers, who have since been suspended, called Modi a “clown”, a “terrorist” and a “puppet of Israel”, after he posted pictures on X of his holiday in Lakshadweep, an archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. The comments caused widespread upset in India, with reports that “thousands of Indian travelers have canceled trips” and a major booking site has suspended flights to the Maldives, said CNBC.

Indian tourists are “one of the largest contributors” to the income of the Maldives, with the sector as a whole contributing to a third of its economy, said the BBC. A boycott therefore would prove damaging, given the Maldives also relies on its neighbour for “food, infrastructure building, and technological advancement”.

While Modi did not mention the Maldives in his holiday post from the “lesser-known” Lakshadweep, it may have been seen as a “charm offensive to draw people” there rather than the Maldives itself that caused upset with ministers, said CNN. The Maldives government was quick to distance itself from the comments.

But the row comes at a “sensitive time” for Indian-Maldivian relations. The Maldives had already fallen out of favour since the election of President Mohamed Muizzu in October 2023, after he campaigned on an “‘India out’ policy” and looked to enhance relations with China, where he is making a state visit this week, said CNBC. The hope is to convince Beijing to resume flights to Maldives, which have not operated since the Covid-19 pandemic, and bring back the Chinese tourists that used to “dominate” Maldives tourism, said the BBC.

The Maldives cannot “afford to alienate its closest neighbour” given its economic reliance on India, said CNN. But any “coercive diplomatic action by Delhi could backfire” too, added the BBC, as it would push the Maldives closer to China and enhance Beijing’s influence in the region.