External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar firmly responded to a criticism of India being a ‘bully’ by emphasizing that true bullies do not provide financial assistance, vaccines, or make exceptions to their rules to help countries in need like India does.
EAM Jaishankar’s response came after Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu had remarked that “no country had the right to bully the Maldives.”
“When you say India is perceived as a big bully, you know, big bullies don’t provide four and a half billion dollars when the neighbours are in trouble. Big bullies don’t supply vaccines to other countries when Covid-19 is on, or make exceptions to their own rules to respond to food demands or fuel demands or fertilizer demands & more,” said Jaishankar
Earlier in the year, Muizzu, in a veiled attack at India, had said, “We might be small but that doesn’t give you the licence to bully us.”
Relations between the two countries strained after Maldivian ministers made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had posted pictures from his visit to Lakshadweep and promoted the Union Territory as a tourist destination. The ministers were later suspended by the Muizzu government.
Jaishankar highlighted the increased connectivity and stronger relationships between India and its neighboring countries, noting a significant increase in trade, investments, and travel with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Maldives.
“You also have to look today at actually what is changed between India and its neighbours. Certainly, with Bangladesh and Nepal. I mean, today you have a power grid, you have roads which didn’t exist a decade ago, you have railways which didn’t exist a decade ago, and there’s usage of waterways. Indian businesses use ports of Bangladesh on a national treatment basis,” Jaishankar added.
With inputs from Media and X.com
