Since Mohamed Muizu became the elected president of the Maldives in September 2023, a series of anti-India sentiments has been sweeping the country. Evidently, the allegiance of President Muizzu’s clearly lies in China. President Muizzu has earlier given the deadline for withdrawing Indian troops from the country, which will be an eventual move, accepted by India. A few days earlier, the two maritime neighbourhood countries got into a spat after a reference from a Maldivian minister to call India a ‘bully’ of the smaller countries of the region. New Delhi reacted by reminding the amount of aid, $4.5 billion, that the Maldives accepts from India.