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Amid the diplomatic row between India and Maldives, Nishant Pitti, CEO and co-founder of EaseMyTrip on Monday justified the company’s decision to suspend flight bookings to the Maldives, saying some people were seeing the move as political.
Nishant also claimed some X users accused his company of instigating the India-Maldives row.
The CEO and co-founder of EaseMyTrip also said his company would have done the same even if another government was ruling India.
“Read some tweets, saying we instigated India-Maldives Standoff. Here is a brief history: Nov 2023, President of Maldives won election on plank of “India Out” campaign. They wanted India & its tourist OUT, since last few years. Being 2nd largest tourism provider to Maldives, we merely fecilitated what majority Maldivan asked for. This new Maldivian govt has been clearly pro-China, and it’s only fair that they earn money from Chinese tourist rather than Indians now,” Nishant Pitti wrote on X.
“When we took this decision, it was risky to let go of sizeable revenue and alienating a chunk of userbase. But we are thankful to 95% people of India, who are supporting us, our app download increased by 280% last week,” he said.
“Remaining 5% folks seem aggravated, as they are seeing it politically, and probably it’s not matching with their political ideology. Perhaps, we would have done the same, no matter which govt was ruling in India, as it just made sense to uphold the dignity of our country,” (sic) Pitti tweeted.
A row erupted after three deputy ministers of the Maldives posted derogatory comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the latter’s visit to Lakshadweep.
President Muizzu suspended the three ministers after their social media postings, which stirred concern in India and called for a boycott by Indian tourists who ranked highest in numbers, followed by Russia.
Muizzu has also asked India to withdraw its military personnel from his country by March 15. According to the latest government figures, there are 88 Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives to help operate a Dornier aircraft and two helicopters provided by India.
Speaking to the press on Saturday after returning from China, President Muizzu, without naming any country, said, “We may be small, but that doesn’t give you the license to bully us.”
He also announced plans to reduce the country’s dependency on India, including securing imports of essential food commodities and medicine and consumables from other countries.
Male was also reviewing more than 100 bilateral agreements with New Delhi signed by the previous government.
