India had played a “key role” in the Maldives’ independence, former Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed said on Wednesday, as opposition parties plan a massive anti-Indian protest rally this week in capital Male. Nasheed has defended the archipelago’s close ties with India amid mounting pressure from opposition parties.

The remark came during a debate in Parliament where lawmakers discussed the massive anti-Indian protest rally that opposition parties have planned under the banner of the “India-Out”, a hate campaign fuelled by the country’s former president Abdullah Yameen.

“As far as I know, Ibrahim Shihab ( a former Maldivian stateman) met Prime Minister Nehru. And I have to say, India played a key role in (the) Maldives becoming an independent state after 1968,” Nasheed said in a response to an opposition lawmaker who claimed that the individual freedom of the Maldivians was at risk due to the alleged presence of the Indian military personnel.

Till 1968, the Maldives was under the control of the British colonial government of Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka). The Maldives, Nasheed said, eventually gained independence after India’s assistance—a fact, he said, even former president Yameen would be well aware of.

Yameen, who was the country’s president between 2013-2018, has been spearheading the “India-Out” campaign, seeking withdrawal of what he says is the “presence of Indian military personnel.” The government led by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has however, denied this claim.

Nasheed, who is currently the speaker of Parliament, has been one of the most ardent supporters of friendly ties with India. Terming Yameen’s India Out campaign “dangerous”, Nasheed accused Yameen of launching the hate campaign for “personal gains”. He further said Yameen’s actions have created problems between the Maldives and other major countries.

As the campaign grew, the government denounced it repeatedly, saying that the campaign doesn’t reflect the broader sentiment of the Maldivian people. Furthermore, it also added that it put the country’s diplomatic ties with friendly countries at risk.

Hundreds of Indians are employed across various sectors in the Maldives, a country of around half a million people with very limited human resources of its own. Officials fear the growing hatred against Indians, fueled by Yameen’s actions, can put the country’s crucial sectors like education and healthcare at risk.

(SAM)