Amid the rising clamour against racial commentary by Maldivian Netizens and politicians, Bollywood actress, and Model Poonam Pandey has announced to cancel her forthcoming shoot in the Island nation asserting that she will never shoot in the Maldives again.
She noted that when she told her team that she would not be shooting in Maldives, they agreed to her demands. Pandey also added that she hopes to shoot in Lakshadweep. Asserting that Nation comes first amid anti-India barbs by some Maldivian Ministers, she used hashtags #NationFirst and #ExploreIndianIsland along with tagging the Indian PMO in her post.
She wrote, “I love shooting in Maldives but I will never shoot in Maldives again. When I was scheduled to shoot my next shoot in Maldives, I told my team that I will not Fly if this shoot gets stuck in Maldives. Fortunately, they agreed and now hoping to shoot in Lakshadweep.”
In the post, she also shared a screenshot detailing her discussion with her travel and schedule planner.
Notably, following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep earlier this week, a large demand erupted among Indians to explore Indian Islands and boost our tourism sector before visiting beaches or tourism sites in other countries. However, jittery Maldivian politicians interjected and reacted to the churn in Indian social media by making racial commentary on Indians.
It is important to note that neither the Indian PM mentioned any country nor it was targeted toward any nation, yet some Maldivians feared a potential hit to their tourism economy.
Subsequently, politicians and public figures from the island nation of Maldives went on a racist diatribe against Indians triggering an outrage from Indian users and celebrities. From prominent Cricketers to Actors all have in unison slammed Maldives for their hateful remarks against Indians and promoted tourism in Lakshadweep and other Indian Islands snubbing Maldives.
Additionally, as per reports, a large number of Indians have cancelled their trips to the Island nation in the wake of the Maldivian Minister’s disparaging and racial and Hinduphobic comments on Indians. Reportedly around 8000+ hotel bookings and 2000+ flights have been cancelled while Indian travel operators noted that they have not received any new inquiries for holidays in Maldives adding that the impact of the Boycott would be visible in the coming days.
Further, Indian online travel company, Ease My Trip, announced to suspension of all flight bookings to Maldives on its platform amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and the island nation.
The Background of the Controversy
On January 4, PM Narendra Modi shared some pictures of his recent visit to Lakshadweep as he exhorted people to explore the scenic island in what could be seen as a push to his ‘vocal for local’ slogan, and an effort to give a boost to tourism in the island.
Following PM Modi’s tweet posting stunning vistas from the Lakshadweep Islands, several social media users in India called for Indians to visit the place over foreign destinations, including the Maldives, which shares similar geographical characteristics as the Lakshadweep Islands.
That touched off bitter reactions from Maldivian counterparts, including governmental functionaries and prominent citizens, many of whom resorted to making churlish remarks against India, Indians, and the Indian PM.
Mariyam Shiuna, Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Information and Arts, recently made insulting remarks against PM Modi, referring to him as a ‘clown’ and a ‘puppet of Israel’ after he posted pictures from his visit to Lakshadweep Islands. She later deleted the tweet and was among one of the three Ministers who were suspended by the Maldivian government for making disparaging remarks on India.
On Friday (5th January), Zahid Rameez, a Council member of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) also took to the microblogging site X to mock Indians.
In response to Maldivian users’ and politicians’ uncalled-for and racial commentary, trends like #BoycottMaldivians and cancelling trips to Maldives are picking steam.