Caught in India-Maldives spat, Lakshadweep islands want jobs, then tourists

India’s PM Modi campaigned for tourists to visit the idyllic archipelago. But people there have more basic demands.

Kalpeni Island, Lakshadweep, India — Sitting on a cane chair at the edge of the Indian Ocean, then strolling on the pristine white sand of a Lakshadweep beach, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi advertised in late December for the federally governed archipelago.

“Those who want to visit different beaches around the world, and are enamoured by them — I request them to first come to Lakshadweep and take a look,” Modi said, in a video widely shared on social media platforms.

That message has triggered a diplomatic crisis between India and the Maldives, South Asia’s smallest nation and a tourist paradise where some ministers hit back in coarse language on social media at what they perceived as an Indian attempt to woo tourists away from their resorts. In turn, Indian social media influencers — including Bollywood stars and ex-cricketers — went into overdrive, pitching Lakshadweep islands as tourist destinations, and others criticising the Maldives.

The Maldives suspended the ministers who had badmouthed India and Modi in the wake of the advertisement. But when President Mohammed Muizzu, who was visiting Beijing — New Delhi’s archrival — at the time, returned to the Maldives, he had a warning for his giant neighbour on his lips. “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the licence to bully us,” he said on Saturday.

But back in Lakshadweep, many people do not want their islands caught up in a tourism tussle between India and the Maldives. They have more fundamental questions for their government — and for Modi.