New Delhi, December 5
Having warned Maldives of adverse consequences in the wake of its controversial cancellation of the GMR Group’s Male airport project, the assessment in the Ministry of External Affairs is that the development portends polarisation of politics in that country with New Delhi as the target.

Mandarins in the South Block office of the MEA insist that the GMR airport user-development fee issue remained unresolved over the past two years largely due to political developments in Maldives and less to do with role of Indian diplomats in general or the envoy in particular, played in Male.

Emphasising that the issue did not figure during bilateral talks or discussions with Maldivian leaders, sources in the South Block suggested that avenues to regularise the airport user fee, either by taking it to Majlis, Parliament in Maldives, or challenge the order by a lower court was never taken.

In any case, there was an offer on that Maldivian nationals could be exempted thereby ensuring the local population do not have to pay while the government would get revenue considering the high tourists footfalls the country receives every year.

As of now, the sources said there was nothing to suggest that the move by Maldives to cancel the contract and take over the control of airport and its functioning has been prompted by some other country. Incidentally, Malaysia that is a partner in the project recently sent its Foreign Minister to Male last week.

While GMR project is seen as a sign of Indian presence, sources are of the view that egged on by small but vociferous parties that lean to the right are raking up this issue for political reasons and the administration and leadership of other political parties are not joining issue in the current state of affairs in Maldives.

The opinion here is that some fringe political elements are ramping up the issue which has got enmeshed in the political developments in Male especially in the backdrop of the report of the Commission of National Inquiry that went into the facts, circumstances and causes for the transfer of power during February this year in which then president Mohammed Nasheed resigned after protests. His Deputy Mohammed Waheed Hassan took over the reins of the Government.

With New Delhi insisting that Male allow legal processes to be complete, the assessment is that Maldives chooses not to follow the route and permit the anti-India atmosphere to guide a decision that it will have consequences and prepare for it.