New Delhi: In response to a question about whether India is being perceived as a “bully” in the region (sub-continent and the Indian Ocean region), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar firmly stated that big bullies do not provide $4.5 billion aid to their neighbors in times of distress.

Speaking at a book launch event in Delhi, Jaishankar emphasized the positive changes in India’s relations with its neighboring countries.

“The big change today in this part of the world is what has happened between India and its neighbours. When you say India is perceived as a big bully, you know, big bullies don’t provide $4.5 billion when the neighbours are in trouble. Big bullies don’t supply vaccines to other countries when Covid is on or make exceptions to their own rules to respond to food demands or fuel demands or fertilizer demands because some war in some other part of the world has complicated their lives,” EAM Jaishankar said.

He pointed out that these actions demonstrate India’s commitment to supporting its neighbors during challenging times.

The video clip of Jaishankar’s response to the question quickly spread across social media platforms, gaining widespread attention.

He further elaborated on the progress made in enhancing connectivity between India and its neighboring countries.

“Today at the connectivity level, just the volume of people moving up and down, the volume of the trade which is there, the investments which are there, it’s actually a very, very good story to tell. Not just with Nepal and Bangladesh, with Sri Lanka as well, I would say even with Maldives,” the EAM stated.

Veiled reference to Maldives

In January, when tensions were high between India and the Maldives, president Mohamed Muizzu had said that though his nation was small “it does not give countries the license to bully us”.

The statement by Muizzu, who is considered strongly pro-China, came amid a row between India and the Maldives after Maldivian politicians made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep.

The comments sparked a ‘Boycott Maldives‘ trend online that has been backed by Bollywood actors, cricketers and other prominent figures.

In his strongly-worded statement, Muizzu said the Indian Ocean does not belong to a specific country.

“Though we have small islands in this ocean, we have a vast exclusive economic zone of 9,00,000 square kilometers. Maldives is one of the countries with the biggest share of this ocean. This ocean does not belong to a specific country. This ocean also belongs to all countries situated in it,” he said.

Muizzu also responded to comments that the Maldives is situated in India’s backyard. “We aren’t in anyone’s backyard. We are an independent and sovereign state,” he said.

Muizzu won the elections in October last year on the back of an ‘India Out’ campaign in which he pledged the removal of Indian troops from the archipelago.