'India is our 911 contact': Maldives, Sri Lanka look to bolster ties with India | Rising Bharat Summit

When it comes to India or China, the Maldives believes that India is “naturally” a better partner for the island nation. The assertion came from former Maldivian Defence Minister Uza Mariya Didi.

While speaking at News18’s flagship Rising Bharat Summit, Didi and Sri Lankan parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, who is also the son of former President and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who was forced to vacate power by a mass agitation over cost of living in 2022, identified areas where South Asian nations should collaborate to thrive in turbulent times. The panellist also discussed what both Sri Lanka and the Maldives expect from India, as one of the key powers in the region.

At a time when US President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs including baseline and reciprocal levies have unsettled a long-standing trade order, South Asian countries are looking for collaborations and opportunities to make space for themselves in the global arena.

More from World

'Sri Lanka can't let its land to be used against India,' says Rajapaksa amid China’s push Indophobia in the British South Asian dance education system

While Sri Lanka is recovering from a historic economic crisis that struck the nation in 2022, the Maldives is rebuilding its ties with its decades-long neighbour, India.

‘India is our 911 contact’: Mariya Didi

On the first day of the Summit, Didi admitted that the Maldives’ foreign policy is very confusing at the moment. “You see him [Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu] visiting China. Then he comes to India. And he talks of India,” she said.

The former minister noted that the idea of “Maldives First” is “obvious” but the island nation should go beyond that.

“You know, it’s stating the obvious. But if you come to look at how we [India and Maldives] have been together from the beginning, coming to India, as I always say, is our 911,” she said.

“You’re just one step away from coming to help us whenever we have any sort of difficulty as well,” she said.

While speaking to Firstpost, Didi referred to India as the “big sister” of the Maldives. She said “I think the countries, our countries have maintained that relationship, the people-to-people relationship that we have always had. So, you’ve always been like an elder sister who was thinking of us as people who are together in our region.”

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

When asked about China’s growing influence in the region, Didi emphasised that India “is naturally” a better partner to the Maldives than China. When asked about the “India-out” campaign that briefly took over the nation, the former defence minister emphasised that such ideas no longer exist in the country.

“There was a point where the people of the Maldives got confused with all the social media. But I think it’s not at a people level,” she said.

“I think it is just some political thing that was going on so that people do not concentrate on local issues. It was like a significant circumstance to take the mind away from local political issues,” Didi said.

“I’m sure we will rise above it and will always have that close relationship we have with India,” she said.

Sri Lanka takes a more pragmatic stance

While speaking about the financial crisis, which even led to political unrest in Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa called the whole ordeal a “lesson” that Colombo has learned. “We must implement and execute what has to be done at that given time. So what we saw in the past couple of years is that we purely ignored certain development projects based on political reasons, for example, some were supposed to be started in 2014-15. And as a result, in 2022, we faced an energy crisis that turned later on into a financial crisis,” he said.

When it comes to the Trump tariffs, Rajapaksa emphasised that what currently is happening will not affect one country only. In terms of Sri Lanka, he noted that the Trump tariff would impact the maritime industry in Sri Lanka.

“As you know, Sri Lanka depends on trade, and we are depending on logistics as well at the same time. So this is something that we need to work together with countries like India and other partners to see how we can work new alliances and build new partnerships with the region,” he said.

Rajapaksa took a programmatic approach regarding who Sri Lanka trusts more, India or China. The Sri Lankan parliamentarian emphasised that the country is more focused on which investment can give the best return for the people of Sri Lanka.

“What we should look at is what can give, which investment can give you the best return for people of Sri Lanka rather than looking at it in a very counter-impressive manner. But I believe it all depends on the existing governments and the political setup in Sri Lanka, and how we manage it,” he said.

During an engaging conversation, both Did and Rajapaksa agreed that South Asia is a paradise that can prosper with collaboration, and that India has a prominent role to play to achieve that end.