- Shashi Tharoor cited India’s trust-building efforts in the Maldives amid their water crisis
- Maldives President Muizzu ran an anti-India campaign before the election
- India sent millions of liters of bottled water when the Maldives' desalination plant broke down
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has shared a classic example from India in building trust in foreign diplomacy. During a discussion at the Fletcher School in the US, he pointed out that despite an anti-India campaign in the Maldives, New Delhi stood by their side during their time of crisis, stressing that trust is built by actions.
"In the last election in the Maldives, the guy who became the president ran on a campaign of 'India out'. Soon after he won, he cancelled a number of contracts to Indian companies," Tharoor said, referring to Mohamed Muizzu.
"A few months into his presidency, the biggest, in fact, I think the only desalination plant for drinking water in the capital city, on the biggest island, broke down. And suddenly, the Maldives had no water. The people of the Maldives had no water to drink," he recalled.
Read: Maldives President Praises Ties with India, Calls PM Modi "Wonderful Person"
New Delhi, however, played a good neighbour despite such anti-India campaigns. He said that India sent plane loads of drinking water to the Maldives to overcome the crisis.
"India, without hesitation, flew in plane loads of millions of litres of bottled drinking water to save them. It didn't do anything else, didn't ask for anything. It was just a gesture from a neighbour next door. You can imagine that there was a considerable softening of 'India out' after that. Trust gets built by action," he emphasised.
The masterclass on diplomacy came at the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, organised by Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Read: Maldives Wants More Indian Tourists, Plans To Start More Direct Flights
A former diplomat who had served at the UN, Tharoor had been a student at The Fletcher School. During his latest visit, he received the Dean's Medal for distinguished service.
Sharing the photos on his social media handle, he wrote, "I first arrived here in 1975 as a nineteen-year-old from India, curious and uncertain of what lay ahead. Fletcher shaped the way I think about the world and my place in it. To stand before the Class of 2026, fifty years later, as a recipient of the school's highest honour, the Dean's Medal for distinguished service, was deeply personal."
