Notoriously anti-India, anti-Hindu and pro-Islamist, the former President of Maldives, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is on run after stealing billions of Maldivian rufiyaa from the state coffers and depositing 450 million rufiyaas in his personal account. Meanwhile, anti-Yameen protests have been intensifying in the country.
According to media reports, protestors have drawn graffiti of arrest Yameen along with his mugshot on the door of his residence, wall and Yameen’s party office wall as well. Flyers have also been put all over the roads against the former Maldivian President. While the people of Maldives are reeling under abject poverty, Yameen and his family are enjoying a life of luxury, with Yameen building a million-dollar house at the place where he is residing currently.
Analysts said, Maldives shares a similar fate of Sri Lanka, where Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family members as well as ruling elites have looted hundreds of millions of dollars through numerous forms of corruption. It is anticipated that, both Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and Mahinda Rajapaksa may again return to power, if they do not face legal consequences.
Inflation, unemployment, skyrocketing rise in the price of essentials have resulted in political chaos and massive unrest in both Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, policymakers in India are feeling worried at the current situations in Maldives and Sri Lanka as unrests in those neighboring countries may leave adverse impact on India as well. It is also feared that, if Yameen succeeds in returning to power, he may cancel all agreements made with India, including the Indian investments and trade.
Meanwhile, Yameen is running an anti-India “India-Out” campaign. The protest has rattled the opposition party Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Yameen himself.
Indian analysts say, Yameen and PPM have created so much hate against Indians that they feel harassed, threatened and insecure there.
According to an opinion editorial published in The Diplomat, on April 21, Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih issued a decree banning the opposition’s “India Out” campaign. The presidential order came after the country’s National Security Council decided that the campaign “to incite hatred against India” is a “threat to national security”.
In his order, the Maldivian president described the anti-India protests as an “organized campaign that intends to disrupt the longstanding bilateral relations between Maldives and India” as well as peace and security in the region. He also argued that the “India Out” campaign puts Maldives at risk of instability, “huge economic and social burden, and isolation in the international arena.” Not acting to prevent this would make it difficult for Maldives to safeguard its independence and the lives of its nationals living or travelling abroad and of foreigners living in the archipelago, the presidential order said.
The India Out campaign began in 2020, when protests led by the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People’s National Congress (PNC) erupted on the streets of the Maldivian capital, Malé, and in social media against the alleged presence of Indian military personnel on Maldivian soil.
In April this year, Indian newspaper The Print in a report claimed that former Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, who has been running the “India Out” campaign in the archipelago, was involved in a secret deal with a Maltese company during his presidency to set up a private armory in a northern Island of the country, a media report said.
In the August of 2015, the then Maldivian Vice President and a close aide of Yameen, Ahmed Adeeb met with the President of Malta and presented a letter from President Abdulla Yameen, the contents of which are unknown, Maldives Voice reported.
Soon after, in the October of the same year, Malta’s Marshall Consultants Group, Safety at Sea Logistics Ltd. (SASL) company confirmed plans to build a private armoury in Haa Alif Atoll Uligan in Northern Maldives.
