India-Maldives row: 'Can't guarantee every nation will support India', says Foreign Minister S Jaishankar

India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has spoken for the first time on the ongoing diplomatic row between India and the Maldives.Addressing an event in Maharashtra's Nagpur on Saturday (Jan 13), Foreign Minister Jaishankar asserted that "politics is politics" and it could not be guaranteed that every nation would support or agree with India every time, reported news agency ANI.

"Politics is politics. I cannot guarantee that in every country, every day, everybody will support us or agree with us," Jaishankar said,adding that in the last decade, New Delhi has been trying to build a very strong connection with the world.

"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," he added.

'Sometimes, things don't go in a good way'

During the event in Nagpur, Jaishankar also said that India had been engaged in infrastructure development in other nations.

"We are involved today in building roads, electricity, transmission, supplying fuel, providing trade access, making investments, and having people holiday in other countries. All these are parts of how you develop these relationships," he said.

"Sometimes, things do not go in a good way, and then you have to reason with people to bring back things to where they should be," he added.

The India-Maldives row

The row between India and Maldives erupted after three deputy ministers in Maldives mocked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media in response to a video of him visiting Lakshadweep to promote local tourism.

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The Maldivian government later suspended the ministers - Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna, and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid. The matter was strongly raised by New Delhi, withMalé and the top opposition leaders of the island nation slamming the ruling establishment over the row.

Following the incident, the Maldives faced a boycott from Indian tourists. On social media, #BoycottMaldives became a top trend with prominent Indian celebrities coming out in support of the call to promote beach tourism in Lakshadweep.

(With inputs from agencies)