Maldives opposition's candidate lashes out at Indian official, says 'emotionally-charged' statements not needed

Opposition’s presidential candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has lashed out at an Indian ruling party official for calling to invade the Maldives.

Subramanian Swamy, a senior official of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, who recently met with opposition leader and former President Mohamed Nasheed, tweeted that ‘India should invade Maldives if rigging of election takes place’.

While this had led to public outrage, Solih via twitter on Saturday said that he objects the Indian official’s call ‘in the strongest terms’.

Noting that incumbent President Abdulla and the country’s Elections Commission ‘are already complicit in voter farud’, Solih said that ‘such violations must be addressed within the internationally established framework’ and not with ‘emotionally charged statements’.

“The sovereignty of the Maldives is paramount,’ Solih added to the tweet.

Solih’s running mate for September’s polls, Faisal Naseem also voiced out his objections on the matter via twitter, saying that India will no do anything that could jeopardize the relations between both nations.

In addition, opposition Adhaalath Party has also condemned the official’s call.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the party said ‘there is currently no situation in Maldives that warrants intervention from a foreign country’, adding that Swamy’s tweet was based on his personal opinion and not that of the Indian government.

Adhaalath however noted that Maldives ‘does need India’s help in establishing a democratic rule’.

Self-exiled former President Nasheed met with Swamy on Tuesday, and tweeted that they had ‘discussed the current political situation in the Maldives, upcoming presidential elections and [opposition’s] concerns on how President Yameen intends to rig Sept 23rd election’.