Maldives govt distances from minister's derogatory remark against PM Modi, calls it ‘personal opinion’

The statement from Maldives govt came after India made it known that the statement of the junior lady minister was totally uncalled for and unacceptable.

Updated on: Jan 7, 2024, 15:46:16 IST

By Shishir Gupta

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Maldives government on Sunday distanced itself from derogatory remarks made by its minister Mariyam Shiuna against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a statement, the government said the ‘opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the Government of Maldives’.

“The government believes that the freedom of expression should be exercised in a democratic and responsible manner, and in ways that do not spread hatred, negativity, and hinder close relationships between the Maldives and international partners,” the Maldives government statement added.

“The relevant authorities of the government will not hesitate to take action against those who make such derogatory remarks,” the statement added.

A massive controversy erupted after Shiuna, the island nation's deputy minister of youth empowerment, made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Modi, calling him a ‘clown’ and ‘puppet’ over his recent Lakshadweep visit.

However, the minister deleted the X post soon after outrage over the remark that triggered a massive backlash on social media. Ex-president Mohammad Nasheed condemned Shiuna's remark, calling it ‘appalling’.

Maldives government statement on its deputy minister's derogatory remark against PM Modi.

"What appalling language by Maldives Government official Mariyam Shiuna towards the leader of a key ally, that is instrumental for the Maldives’ security and prosperity," Nasheed said in an X post.

The statement from Maldives govt came after India made it known that the statement of the junior lady minister was totally uncalled for and unacceptable. The unsavoury comment by the junior minister came when Maldivian president Mohammad Muizzu has gone to seek funds from Beijing.

After making fund seeking trip to Turkey and UAE, Muizzu left for China on January 6 and is expected to return on January 10. The derogatory statement used by the junior lady minister is reflective of the pro-Hamas sentiments of the Muizzu government and is a polarising build-up to the Majlis election in April.

Even though the Maldivian government had distanced itself from the statement, she has ended up poisoning an already difficult bilateral relationship since pro-China Muizzu took over on November 17.

Muizzu, who is a Sunni Salafi Muslim, won the Maldivian election on a polarising campaign against India by seeking votes on ouster of Indian troops from Maldives. It is another matter that except for unarmed crews, two Indian helicopters, one Dornier plane and one offshore petrol vessel (all on loan), there is not a single Indian army soldier in the Muslim majority island.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

Pm Modi

Get the latest World News, breaking headlines and global updates from the US, UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and other countries. Follow major international events on Hindustan Times.