Executive summary

• The ‘India Out’ campaign in the Maldives had distinct phases starting from late 2018, evolving through opposition mobilization, rise of anti-India sentiments, official protests, and broadening of protests until the present.

• Differences in narrative and allegations between the Maldives and Bangladesh include the Maldives focusing on Indian military presence and economic exploitation, while Bangladesh highlighted issues like electoral fraud, religious grievances, and economic dependency on India.

• The campaign’s evolution is marked by the emergence of hashtags like #WakeUpNow and #HandsOffMaldives, indicating early sentiments against Indian involvement. These hashtags transitioned to #IndiaOut, reflecting a sustained effort to delegitimize India’s influence.

• Media organizations and individuals played a pivotal role in amplifying the narrative. Entities like Dhiyares in the Maldives and Surma News in Bangladesh strategically promoted the agenda, shaping public discourse and mobilizing support.

• Involvement of BNP from Bangladesh shows that the campaign relies on misinformation, manipulation of facts, and leveraging religion for political gains.

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Over the past two years, the #IndiaOut campaign led by our neighboring countries, Maldives and Bangladesh, has remained a prominent fixture in the news. It’s a topic that’s undoubtedly at the forefront of many people’s minds. For anyone, the answer might be the same:

• It is a resistance by the people of both countries to safeguard their sovereignty.

• A method to scrutinize the government’s strong preference for the ‘India First Policy.’

• And a struggle to resist the alleged influence India exerts in their internal affairs.

By the end of reading this report you will start questioning these understandings, as we try to present to you the Similarities, differences, misconceptions, and involvement of international banned entities surrounding the futile campaign.

Indiaout : Initiation and Phases

1. Initial Criticism and Opposition Mobilization (Late 2018 – Mid 2019)

• The campaign’s origins can be traced back to mid-December 2018 when India offered significant financial assistance to the Maldives.
• Opposition leaders began criticizing the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government, focusing on issues of debt and sovereignty concerns.
• By March 2019, the “Indian Soldiers leave” campaign emerged in opposition to President Solih’s decision to reverse Yameen’s policy regarding Indian military presence.

2. Rise of Anti-India Sentiments and Mobilization (Mid 2019 – Early 2020)

• Reservations and protests against India’s increased military presence gained ground throughout 2019.
• Social media narratives criticizing Indian policies and alleged interference started to surface
• The hydrography agreement signed in June 2019 triggered intensified opposition rhetoric against India’s perceived actions in the Maldives.

3. Official Launch of ‘India Out’ Protests (Late 2020 – 2021)

• The first official ‘India Out’ protest took place on Maldivian National Day in October 2020.
• The campaign aimed at depicting the Maldives as “becoming a slave to India” and highlighted alleged Indian military presence on Maldivian soil.
• Opposition leaders leveraged the campaign to pressure India regarding Yameen’s arrest and other political agendas.

4. Escalation and Broadening of Protests (2021 – Present)

• Protests expanded beyond the capital city of Malé, indicating growing support and momentum for the ‘India Out’ movement.
• Anti-India rhetoric intensified in the lead-up to Yameen’s release in November 2021, aligning with preparations for the 2023 presidential elections.
• Media Organisations Headed by Ahmed Azaan, Dhiyares News and its sister group Maldives Journal played a significant role in amplification of the campaign.

Drawing inspiration from the Maldives’ playbook, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) aimed to capitalize on nationalist sentiments and anti-incumbency fervour to undermine Sheikh Hasina’s authority. By weaving together narratives of alleged electoral fraud, religious grievances, and perceived Indian interference, the BNP seeks to erode public trust in the government.

Going down the same road: Tracing the similarities

In both the Maldives and Bangladesh, the ‘India Out’ campaigns leverage nationalist sentiments and are spearheaded by opposition parties seeking to undermine the ruling government by presenting India as a common enemy. These movements reflect a broader shift towards closer ties with China as an alternative to perceived Indian dominance. In both campaigns, specific media organizations( Dhiyares and Maldives Journal for Maldives and Surma News & Nagorik TV for Bangladesh) have been selected exclusively to promote the ‘India Out’ agenda. This strategic use of media helped in shaping public discourse and mobilizing support for nationalist causes.
On closer inspection, we analyzed that the campaign in both countries played a major role in political benefit and minimal citizen benefit.

Differences in Narrative and Allegations

Maldives: The campaign focused on allegations of Indian military presence, perceived economic exploitation, and sovereignty concerns, often targeting specific agreements and policies portraying India as an interfering force compromising Maldives’ independence.

Bangladesh: The BNP’s campaign highlighted issues like electoral integrity, religious identity, and economic dependency on India, framing these as threats to Bangladesh’s sovereignty and democratic ideals.

Differences in Social Media Mobilization and Tactics

Maldives: The Maldivian campaign extensively utilized social media platforms like Twitter to mobilize support with specific hashtags like #IndiaOut, focusing on criticizing Indian policies and alleged interference.

Bangladesh:
In Bangladesh, the BNP’s campaign employed social media influencers to amplify anti-India sentiments using hashtags like #IndiaOut and #BoycottIndia, targeting broader issues of governance and sovereignty, seeking to galvanize public sentiment against the ruling party by framing India as a common enemy.

Taking in the view of the above comparison, let’s dig deep into the role of media organizations and individuals solely crafted for the campaign.

Role of Media in Outpouring ‘India Out’ narrative in both Countries:

A major role was played by Media organizations in both countries to amplify the narrative where the individuals and their organizations were carefully crafted to speak only about the campaign.

Maldives:

Islamist news portal Dhiyares and its founder Ahmed Azaan campaigned extensively
For ‘India Out’ through his media activities and public statements.

Ahmed Azaan

Despite the official launch of the campaign in 2020, anti-India sentiments have been prevalent even prior to that. A thorough analysis reveals that the ‘India Out’ sentiment in the Maldives dates back to the tenure of former President Mohamed Nasheed in 2012 and 2013. Furthermore, findings suggest that the same group that played a significant role in ousting Nasheed is now spearheading this propaganda campaign.

Before #IndiaOut: #wakeUpNOW & #handsoffmaldives

Before delving into anti-government sentiments or the #IndiaOut movement, it’s important to grasp the essence of #WakeUpNow, which emerged prior to #IndiaOut. The Twitter handle “WakeUpNow” was created on August 22, 2013. This entity presented itself as a youth movement that played a significant role in preventing former President Mohamed Nasheed from securing re-election in 2013. This self-proclaimed ‘woke’ movement was initiated by Ihsan and later joined by Ahmed Azaan.

Why we are referring to this tweet? The below screenshot will help you understand where they are clearly indicating their stand on India-Maldives relations.

WakeUpNow, the Twitter ID became less active as Yameen went on to win the elections in Nov 2013. In early 2016, the ID started PR for Yameen again but entirely stopped in July of 2016. There has been no activity reported since then.

Ahmed Azaan, who is the main campaigner for Yameen & the opposition in today’s time, was also an integral member of the WakeUpNow team. All of his tweets under the hashtag were largely against anything anti-India. Thus making it evident about him being always an active campaigner almost all his life.

Interestingly, Azaan was also one of the pioneers to use #handsoffMaldives, which dates back to Sept 2013. This hashtag was the earliest form to incite hate against India. In this regard, we can say the findings indicate that the campaign was not launched in 2020, but rather it was at work since 2013. With time, #handsoffMaldives of 2013 evolved into #IndiaOut in 2020.

#handsoffMaldives was used to create this entire fear-mongering aura regarding military presence, annexation of freedom and threat to sovereignty to benefit Yameen’s political career in this case.

Fast Forward to 2024 ‘The ringleaders’:

In Sep of 2019, Dhiyares was registered. The co-founders being:

• Ahmed Azaan
• Shifzan Ahmed
• Ahmed Ibrahim

Dhiyares is a dhivehi news site, it also has an English edition named, ‘The Maldives Journal.’ Since the beginning of their publication, they have always projected this narrative that target developmental projects Maldives have with India. They also accuse India of facilitating Yameen’s arrest. Besides posting very click baiting contents, that sometimes has no credibility, the site has contributed a lot in making this campaign take a xenophobic turn.

Let’s look at the pointers he focused this time for the #Indiaout campaign:

a. Accusing India of Blocking Financial Assistance
He has raised suspicions that India’s influence is preventing the Maldives from availing loans and aid from China-led institutions.

b. Defending China and Criticizing India:
He has expressed frustration over perceived Indian influence in the Maldives and has downplayed concerns about Chinese interference, even amid past experiences of heavy Chinese borrowing and potential debt traps.

c. Anti-Indian Govt Campaign :
He has used social media to label the Indian government as “Hindu extremist” and criticized its policies, especially regarding Kashmir.

d. Targeting Indian Investments and Diplomats

The two countries signed a MoU for hydrographic surveying in June 2019, with the  aimed at identifying the seabed and mapping the physical features of the islands, of the Maldives. The govt claimed that this agreement would strengthen the island nation’s capability to map out coastal waters and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), and properly utilise their resources. However, the opposition and media claimed that the survey would allow India to have in-depth knowledge of Maldivian waters, ports and harbours, and thereby access seabed and critical navigational information and challenge the country’s security. An allegedly leaked version of the confidential agreement, published by the media channel, Dhiyares, reinforced this narrative.

e. Echoing Yameen’s Political Line:

Azaan’s stance aligns with the political agenda of former President Abdulla Yameen, who shifted the Maldives’ foreign policy towards closer ties with China. Azaan advocates for electing a “nationalistic leader” like Yameen, reflecting a desire to challenge India’s influence. India Out was triggered for the political benefit of Yameen. Each time Yameen was found in a compromised position, the social media would be amplified with anti-India sentiments

He has more than 300+ tweets only using #Indiaout hashtag

f. Monetary Exchange

Furthermore, PPM and Azaan have worked closely in running the campaign. In the conversation, it was mentioned that an agenda was set by a PPM member for Dhiyares news where it is mentioned in Tasks to be completed: ‘IndiaOut material’ and ‘campaign material collection’. They are further being allocated money (2 million) for the campaign.

This money was further used to buy Indian Influencers where they were paying Indians to tweet about President Solih. A trick to make maldive citizen believe that India’s playing games.

Bangladesh

The BNP has had a rocky relationship with India. It has, in the past, used anti-India rhetoric and policies to harm Indian interests and further its domestic political goals. However, its current avatar—the “India Out” campaign seems to have been inspired by a similar movement in the Maldives, led by the then-Opposition and now ruling coalition, the Progressive Alliance. The Indiaout campaign was only limited to the social media users in Bangladesh. But Bangladeshi news media group have joined their hands in the campaign to take place in London.

Surma News Group, a company that runs a Bangla daily named ‘Surma’ from London has joined the campaign as a “media partner”.

‘Nagorik TV’, which operates from Canada and the United States organized a rally in Canada calling upon people to “boycott Indian products”. According to media report, owners of this YouTube channel, Tito Rahman alias Mustafizur Rahman Tito alias Tito and Nazmus Saqui are accused of being involved in numerous forms of criminal activities including extortion and blackmailing.

BNP and its ideological allies, including Hefazat-e-Islam are pushing-forward “India Out” notoriety through various methods. Their volunteers are deployed on busy roads in major cities for distributing leaflets of “India Out” campaign.

They have mobilized madrassa teachers and students in chanting anti-Bharat slogans, it also has instructed madrassa teachers to hold special classes to brainwash minor students .

Conclusion

The in-depth analysis of the #IndiaOut campaigns in both the Maldives and Bangladesh reveals a complex web of agendas, narratives, and strategies. Much of this campaign has been sustained by four sources – political parties (i.e., opposition), social media, traditional media, and China. The first three factors are largely shaped by the Progressive Alliance. The fourth factor is, however, more covert and subtle in nature.

The campaigns, while differing in their specific narratives and tactics, share common objectives: to promote nationalist sentiments, glorify certain political figures, and gain support for upcoming elections. They employ religion as a political tool and strategically target issues such as sovereignty, economic dependency, and alleged electoral fraud to galvanize public sentiment against India and the ruling governments.