With troubles brewing between India and Maldives over the presence of Indian military personnel there, and Male’s increasing and rapid tilt on China, New Delhi is planning to effectively leverage its growing strategic partnership with Mauritius to address its maritime domain challenges and strengthen the Indo-Pacific strategic framework. Mauritius has always been crucial for India due to its strategic location on the Indian Ocean even as the Narendra Modi government considers the island nation to be a crucial element under New Delhi’s Security and Growth For All (SAGAR) policy. New Delhi has also been looking at Port Louis from the perspective of Forward Africa.
The relationship between India and Mauritius dates back to the pre-Independence era having solid historical ties. In October 1901, Mahatma Gandhi briefly stopped over in Mauritius during his journey onwards to South Africa on sea voyage. The National Day of Mauritius is celebrated on March 12 in recognition of Gandhi’s Dandi Salt March. The Indian origin population constitutes nearly 70 percent of the Mauritian population. The current dispensation in Mauritius under Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth maintains close ties with the Modi government. Prime Minister Jugnauth had also attended Prime Minister Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in May 2019.
Despite the shared cultural and historical linkages, India has been looking at Mauritius mostly from the prism of trade, maritime connectivity projects and people-to-people linkages. In February 2021, India and Mauritius sought to boost bilateral strategic and defence ties with a much greater focus on maritime domain awareness and security. India had also offered a Dornier aircraft and an Advanced Light Helicopter, Dhruv, on lease to Mauritius. However, despite this, New Delhi was more closely aligned with Maldives when it came to leveraging bilateral ties against India’s greatest adversary on the maritime domain — China — and boosted its presence as New Delhi pivoted towards Indo-Pacific as the cornerstone of its foreign policy.
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Under the Mohamed Muizzu government there, Maldives is increasingly turning out to be similar to what it was under former President Abdulla Yameen when the Indian Ocean island nation came under complete influence of China. Therefore, India has now realised that it will be churlish to put all eggs in one basket, and is actively working to make Mauritius the focal point of India’s maritime security needs. Besides, with India facing increasing threats from the Indian Ocean region emanating from the Red Sea crisis, Mauritius might turn out to be India’s key ally in the seas if New Delhi can play the diplomatic cards well.
Within less than 24 hours of sending a civilian team to Maldives to take control of the three aviation platforms that were earlier being manned by military personnel, India opened a new strategic channel with Mauritius on February 29 by inaugurating a new airstrip and St. James Jetty at the Agalega Island in Mauritius. The projects hsd been pending for a long time but has been given priority under India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and SAGAR.
Inaugurating the projects Thursday, Prime Minister Modi said India and Mauritius are “natural partners as well as stakeholders” when it comes to maritime security. He also said Mauritius has been a key partner in India SAGAR Vision and being a country from the Global South, Mauritius holds a place of priority for India.
The Agalega airstrip and the St. James Jetty will enable India to send its warships there for operational reasons thereby carrying out monitoring activities there, including movement of Chinese ships. This will not only help India in projecting itself as a significant regional power but will also enable its Navy to flex its muscles there, according to sources in the intelligence community. Prime Minister Jugnauth called the two projects “major transformational projects which will significantly enhance the capabilities and capacities in marine surveillance and security while also meeting the development objectives."
However, India needs to be careful that by doing all these it loses the goodwill it has in the Indian Ocean island nation. In 2022, India came under massive fire from the opposition parties over allegations of espionage that gave rise to a major political controversy. India was accused of installing a "sniffing device" in an inaccessible island. But this is the time now for India to move cautiously and ensure that it has multiple strategic options when it comes to securing its maritime boundaries.
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]
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