India summons Maldivian envoy

New Delhi: The Maldivian envoy to India was on Monday summoned to the external affairs ministry and conveyed its strong concerns over disparaging social media posts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by three now-suspended-ministers as the backlash over the remarks continued for the second day.

In Male, the Maldivian government conveyed to Indian High Commissioner Munu Muhawar that the remarks against Modi do not represent its views. Deputy ministers in the youth ministry Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid were suspended on Sunday by the government of President Mohamed Muizzu over their posts.

The Maldivian President is in China on a week-long trip. Though Maldivian media reported that Muhawar was summoned to the foreign ministry, the Indian high commission said he had a "pre-arranged" meeting with Ambassador at Large Dr Ali Naseer Mohamed. "High Commissioner Munu Mahawar had a pre-arranged meeting with Dr Ali Naseer Mohamed, Ambassador at Large, at MoFA, Maldives, today to discuss bilateral issues," it said in a post on 'X'.