'India only' is sluttish subjugation: Pres Yameen

India only policy is 'sluttish subjugation', claims President Yameen, delivering the harshest criticism of the present Government's India-only policy, so far.

The former President, also the opposition leader, has been championing the India Out movement, since his release from jail last November, after Supreme Court threw out graft charges.

He had recently joined Twitter. On Friday, President Yameen tweeted that an India First policy is 'shimmering benevolence', while the 'India only [policy] is sluttish subjugation'.

The movement is one that calls for the ouster of Indian military personnel stationed in various parts of the country and bring an end to the secretive nature of agreements being signed by the two countries. The Government had sought out to criminalize the movement, citing the movement is xenophobic and harms the country.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had issued a decree, criminalizing the movement in late April.

The decree stated that the India Out movement was a movement based on hate speech and hate directed against India, and as such, deemed a direct threat to national security by the third session of the National Security Council.

The decree further said that the Government’s policy was to ensure protection of free speech and assembly and uphold principles of democratic societies. However, the movement, the decree added, was a subversion of free speech and would mar the relationship between the two nations, development of the Maldives and effect the attempts to sustain regional peace and stability.

The opposition denies all these claims, adding that they will not cease championing the movement.