The Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives Sajay Sudhir says the Indian government does not recognize the #IndiaOut movement as one driven by the Maldivian opposition.

In an exclusive interview with ‘The Press’, the High Commissioner said that the Indian government has always maintained a good relationship with the opposition here in the country (Maldives) and that India had high regard for the opposition.

Sudhir said that being the largest democracy in the world, India knows the importance of the opposition well.

He said that India has always been in contact with the opposition and that the opposition has not shared such sentiments in their conversations.

While Sudhir acknowledged that there is such a movement, he said the lack of mainstream media coverage meant that the movement is nothing serious and menial at best.

I feel it's more coming from some misinformed people, or I would say people who do not have the full information or who are just trying to cook up information. We don’t really regard it as anything serious, if it were, we would have come to know through our very active contacts within political parties across the board in the Maldives
Sunjay Sudhir, Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives

Noting the decades-long bilateral relationship between the two countries, the High Commissioner insisted that the Indian interest in its much smaller neighbor is just to support the Maldives in achieving its developmental goals.

He noted that questioned would be asked about 'why India is interested in the Maldives' time and time again and that these questions should be expected in a democratic system.

Sudhir said that again India does not attribute these questions to the Maldivian opposition and that they may be coming from people who have been misinformed or people with a vested interest.

The #IndiaOut movement has been gaining moment in recent times with the Maldivian opposition voicing constant discontent towards Indian involvement in the country’s affairs.

IndiaOut Sanjay Sudhir India Politics