Maldives, Pak, Bhutan Under China's Spell: Congress Questions India's Influence in South Asia

New Delhi: Moments after Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Monday reached China on a state visit in the backdrop of a diplomatic row with India, the Congress party stoked a controversy by questionning India's current position of influence in South Asia. 

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manish Tewari compared India with China in regard to influence on South Asian countries and called for a reality check for the Indian diaspora. 

“The Maldives is now in the Chinese sphere of influence. Sri Lanka has bent to the Chinese wind. China is gobbling up territory in Bhutan. China has accumulated disproportionate influence over the polity in Nepal. The Military Junta in Myanmar for decades has been beholden to the Communist Party of China (CPC)," Tewari wrote on X.

Explicitly, he asserted that Pakistan is a client state of China and added, “China has developed proximate ties to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Chinese economic influence in Bangladesh is also on the ascendant. What is India‘s influence in South Asia currently? Folks need to take a reality check!”

Congress' sharp jibe on India's Foreign relations came in the backdrop of India-Maldives diplomatic row and the subsequent visit of Muizzu to China on a state visit at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi will host a welcome ceremony and a welcome banquet for Muizzu during his state visit from January 8-12. 

President Muizzu, who gained power playing his 'Out India' campaign, suspended three deputy ministers—Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna, and Abdulla Mahzoon Maajid— following derogatory comments posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promotion of India's Lakshadweep archipelago for tourism.

Some island nation's ministers viewed PM Modi's visit to Lakshwadeep as trying to draw tourists away from the globally popular Maldives, whose 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean are dotted with luxury.