The Maldives, India's closest archipelago nation which had maintained close relations with the country has since last year as the Maldives' President, Mohammed Muisu took a policy turn to distance ties with India and get closer with China leading to a sudden decrease in Indian tourists to Maldives and exit of Indian soldiers from the island.
It is a different story now that the country is struggling without the Indian Army and not even being able to operate fighter jets.Meanwhile, as Indians do not travel to the Maldives, their economy has suffered. Due to this, the Maldives without any other optionwent so far as to ask Indian to visit and revive tourism. However, since there was no response from India, Maldives Foreign Minister Musa Zamir met Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankarlast week.
He reportedly apologized saying that it was a big mistake for Maldivian ministers to have denigrated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also asked for any help to Maldives which is currently in economic crisis.
India forgave Maldives and has given Maldives 50 million dollars which is about Rs.417 crores in Indian value.Despite Maldives taking several actions against India to please China, India has once again extended a helping hand to Maldives. China is surprised by the amount that India has given to the country. The people of Maldives, who did not expect this help from India, are also expressing their happiness.
Maldivians want to cherish and protect India's warm friendship and broad-mindedness. The Maldivian government has now realized that if the economic status of Maldives is to rise, it will not happen without India's help. India has shown mercy to the distressed Maldives. The expectation of the people of the country is that the Maldivian government should be involved in activities to attract Indian tourists to maintain smooth relations!