The Prime Minister also highlighted the celebration of the festival as “part of India’s multi-cultural heritage, across the length and breadth of India with fervour and gaiety”.
On June 9, President Muizzu was in New Delhi for PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremony and held talks with him and external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
Invitation to the Maldives President for the oath-taking ceremony was under India’s Neighbourhood First policy — which was also seen as New Delhi’s attempt to tone down the heat in the bilateral relations which accentuated after Muizzu assumed office in April this year and adopted policy decisions with reasonable hostility towards India’s interest.
PM Modi’s festive message to President Muizzu amid strained relations could possibly indicate India’s effort to bring the ties back on track.
The relations between both nations bittered particularly after Muizzu, who is widely seen as a pro-China leader, insisted on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation.
After Maldive’s insistence, India withdrew all its troops from Maldives ahead of the May 10 deadline set by Muizzu.
The Indian military personnel were stationed in the Maldives to operate and maintain two helicopters and Dornier aircraft that India had gifted earlier.
The Maldives government had previously announced that 51 of these soldiers were repatriated to India on Monday, and the presence of 89 Indian soldiers in the country was cited based on official documents, while the countries agreed to withdraw the remaining Indian troops before May 10.
The Maldives is a key maritime neighbour for India in the Indian Ocean Region and holds a special place in its initiatives like ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ of the Modi government.
