As the divide between India and Maldives grows wider, a restaurant in Uttar Pradesh's Noida has found a bizarre way of showing solidarity for the country.
According to media reports, Mr. Bhatura – a restaurant chain in Noida and Ghaziabad has promised to offer a free plate of 'Chole Bhature' if its restaurant customers show proof of cancelled tickets to the Maldives.
"Through this, we want to promote tourism in Lakshadweep. We started this scheme on Saturday and the response has been very good. In the NCR region itself, 10 people have availed of the scheme and they have appreciated it. We now plan to extend the scheme till the end of January," Vijay Mishra, owner of the restaurant, was quoted as saying by India Today.
Tensions between India and the Maldives hit rock bottom after Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu's three ministers wrote derogatory comments against Indians and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the X platform earlier this month.
Following this, the Maldivian leader suspended the ministers but netizens in India started #BoycottMaldives campaign in which several celebrities also participated to show their solidarity.
Muizzu is considered close to China and he has asked India to remove its military from the island nation by 15 March this year.
In December last year, President Muizzu claimed that, after dialogue with the Indian government, an agreement was reached to withdraw Indian military personnel.
However, on 14 January, India and Maldives held a core group meeting in which both sides deliberated on finding a "mutually workable solution" to ensure the "continued operation" of Indian aviation platforms.
Notably, the removal of Indian troops in the Maldives was the main campaign of Muizzu's party. Currently, there are around 70 Indian troops, along with Dornier 228 maritime patrol aircraft and two HAL Dhruv helicopters, stationed in the Maldives.
On Friday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer and the two ministers exchanged views on the ongoing high-level discussions on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel.
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