MDA's India stance changes after MDP alliance

Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) has changed its earlier stand on the presence of Indian soldiers in the Maldives after deciding to form an alliance with the ruling party's presidential candidate, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The MDA, led by Meedhoo MP Ahmed Siyam Mohamed, now believes that the presence of Indian troops in the Maldives is not an issue.

Senior MDA leaders had earlier spoken out against the presence of Indian troops in the country. Some of them also spoke in a way that would encourage the opposition PPM/PNC's 'India Out' movement against it.

The MDA National Assembly on Friday decided to support President Solih in the September 9 presidential election. Replying to a question raised by Atoll Times at a press conference held at Champa Central Hotel on Friday night to announce the decision, MDA Deputy Leader Aishath Rafiyya said that the party's foreign policy is not the kind of foreign policy that can begrudge any country and it is important to work with every country.

"I can see president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration adopting the same foreign policy. We don't try to quarrel with any country or isolate any country. When it comes to Indian soldiers, I don't see what percentage they have occupied [or] if there is an Indian military base in the country," Rafiyya said.

"Then you too know that in a country where there is an interest, for example, if a lot of [Maldivians] are living in India, our military attaché will be in India. Our soldiers are stationed in Trivandrum, India. Our soldiers are also working in New Delhi [and] in [Sri Lanka's capital] Colombo."

Rafiyya said that Maldivian troops are stationed in foreign countries in such a way that they are adequate and cost-effective to the Maldives. Therefore, Indian troops will also be stationed in countries across the world, including the Maldives, she said.

"However, if it affects any internal matter of the country and we see it, I will be the first to come out to expel them," Rafiyya said.

She said slogans like 'India Out' raised by the opposition were not accepted by the MDA. She said what had happened to PPM’s Hulhumale constituency president Abdul Samad, who was recently deported from India, was the "way it was meant to happen".

"Over the last few days, we have seen how a Maldivian went to India and things happened. That's how it will be," Rafiyya said, referring to what happened to Samad, who spearheaded the opposition's 'India Out' movement.

"This country will not function without the people of India. Our country will not function without our people going to India. That's a visible fact."