The ongoing political tension in the Maldives is a threat to India’s national security and the government must intervene, says Yashwant Sinha, a former minister of finance.

Yashwant Sinha, also a senior leader of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party or the Indian People’s Party), said that things in the Maldives ‘has been allowed to drift’.

“What’s happening in Maldives is a threat to India’s national security” Sinha is reported to have said.

While Sinha has called on the government to ‘not stand idly by’, he did not expressly support the idea of sending Indian military forces into the Maldives.

Instead, Sinha said that that ‘sending troops’ to the Maldives is an option and that lack of any action will be seen as India being weak.

“We need not ask any nation before we act. Like in Bangladesh’s case we have seen, if we act, world respects you. But if you don’t, they will take you as weak” The Indian Express reported him to have said.

Sinha went on to criticize Maldives’ ties with China, and said that it is of concern that the foreign nation – alien to the Indian Ocean – has taken up so much space in the Maldives.

Sinha also said that India’s lack of action in this regard and lack of any strong statements has ‘given the Maldives the impression that it can do whatever it wants’.

While the ongoing political conflict in the Maldives has been a point of concern for India, which prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy and one that upholds its principles, it has thus far only made statements over it.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile called on the Indian government to send a military-backed envoy into the Maldives, citing the lack of a legal means to have a unanimous Supreme Court ruling enforced.

Nasheed made the case that all legal avenues have been closed, as Supreme Court justices have been arrested and a state of emergency in place, and that foreign intervention is necessary. Nasheed said that dealing with the matter internally would result in chaos.