Indian PM unlikely to attend Solih's swearing-in ceremony

While President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s inaugural date is yet to be finalized, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to make an appearance.

India’s The Wire reports that PM Modi’s visit next month is uncertain as it will be hesitating to send him “to an event where he could be just part of the crowd”, and that Modi’s long-awaited trip to the Maldives “should be a stand-alone bilateral state visit”.

While the president-elect had extended Modi an invitation to his swearing-in ceremony, when the PM called to offer congratulations on his elections victory, The Wire noted that he is yet to receive a formal invitation to the ceremony.

The Maldives foreign ministry- which is tasked with sending out invitations to world leaders and senior foreign representative- recently revealed that preparations are underway for Solih’s inaugural ceremony.

However, it can only send out official invitations after a date is confirmed for the ceremony. While outgoing President Abdulla Yameen has said that he will remain in office until November 17, work is being done to move it to November 11; all previous presidents were sworn in on this date while there were numerous delays in 2013 due to the annulment of the first round of election.

While India is yet to make a clear decision on whether PM Modi will attend the ceremony, The Wire noted that it wants to have “a better idea of the invitee list” first.

Noting that India might have to reconsider its recommendation “if there is an invite to all SAARC members only”, it cited a senior Indian official that “if everyone is invited, then as per protocol, the Indian prime minister will only be one among many”.

The report further noted the PM’s reservations to be in the same audience with his Pakistani counterpart, Imran Khan. President-elect Solih has extended an invitation to PM Khan as well.

Maldives is the only South Asian country that PM Modi had not visited in the past five years, with a scheduled visit being “postponed” due to the political turmoil in the country. While Yameen had extended an invitation to Modi in January 2017, the imposition of a state of emergency in February had further deteriorated the ties between both nations.

However, reports indicate that the PM will travel to Maldives prior to India’s parliamentary elections, which is to be held in April or May 2019.

While PM Modi has also extended an invitation to Solih to visit India, it is anticipated that India will be his first foreign destination as president. Indian officials are expecting the visit to take place in December.