India-Maldives row: As Male sets deadline for Indian troops' withdrawal, Jaishankar says ‘cannot guarantee that…’
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has commented on the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Maldives and asserted “politics is politics", and added that one cannot guarantee in every country, every day, everybody will support us or agree with India. The remark was made even as Maldives established 15 March as deadline for India to pull back its troops from the island.
EAM Jaishankar was speaking at the Manthan: Townhall meeting in Nagpur, Maharashtra, when he said, “Politics is politics. I cannot guarantee that in every country, every day, everybody will support us or agree with us".
"But, seriously, as a solution, what we have been trying to do in the last 10 years, with a lot of success, is to build a very strong connect, so that, though the politics may go up and down, the people of the country, the society, generally have good feelings towards India and understand the importance of having good relations with India," EAM Jaishankar added. Jaishankar further stated that India has been engaged in infrastructure development in other countries.
"We are involved today in building roads, electricity, transmission, supplying fuel, providing trade access, making investments, and having people holiday in other countries," Jaishankar added, stressing that "all these are parts of how you develop those relationships." "Sometimes, things do not go in a good way, and then you have to reason with people to bring things back to where they should be," Jaishankar emphasised. India and Maldives' long standing relationship took a bitter turn when a social media blowout ended in ‘derogatory’ remarks for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from three Maldivian ministers.
Read more on livemint.com
