The celebrity circus over the Maldives fracas

While it's a win-win for the celebrities who are rewarded with an instant following, Indian islands and their fragile ecosystems might well be the losers here

- SANDIP ROY

I have never been to the Maldives.

For the longest time I didn't want to admit to that. It made me feel like a bit of a loser every time I saw someone's sun-kissed vacation pictures from the island nation. But now finally I can wear this particular badge with smug pride as the #Boycott Maldives tsunami gathers force.

The Maldives is not the first country that India has been in a diplomatic row with lately. Canadian and Indian relations went into deep freeze after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pointed fingers at India with regard to the killing of a Khalistani extremist in Canada. Before that, India and China butted heads over incursions across the Line of Actual Control and Chinese apps like TikTok were banished from Indian phones.

The Maldives affair has certainly left its government red-faced. Three deputy ministers have been suspended after they made gratuitously insulting remarks on social media about the posts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoying the beaches of Lakshadweep. It was a brazenly ridiculous act, especially coming from government officials, and India made it clear it would not take the insult lying down. The current government in the Maldives is not friendly to India. In fact, their President was visiting China when the furore erupted. But the suspension of the ministers showed that New Delhi still has plenty of clout in the region, friendly government or not. And the Maldives knows which side its bread is buttered. Tourism accounted for a full quarter of its national economy in 2019. Despite the current President's "India-Out" campaign platform, neither side wants to jeopardise major infrastructure projects that are underway, according to The New York Times.