Announcing an alliance with former arch-rival and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is the only way to ensure democracy in the Maldives, Opposition leader and former President Mohammad Nasheed has said.

Speaking to The Hindu from Colombo hours after he announced a political front including Mr. Gayoom and leaders of the Jumhooree party as well as the Islamist Adaalath party, Mr. Nasheed said he hoped India would back their cause by pressuring the government of President Yameen to “stop arresting Opposition members.” “I am sure India will read the writing on the wall from our alliance of the four parties of the Maldives, that we have the vast majority of people with us… and I am sure they will act accordingly,” Mr. Nasheed said, adding, “Most importantly they must press on President Yameen that he has to stop arresting members of the opposition and allow free elections.”

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “decision not to visit the Maldives” so far was “thoughtful.”

“As long as President Yameen insists on running the country as an autocrat, he cannot be a friend of India. I think it is important that India has given that message to President Yameen, and its very well done,” he added. While Mr. Modi cancelled his visit to Male in 2015 over opposition protests, both External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar have visited the island nation and President Yameen visited India in April 2016.

In a major development that could spell trouble for President Yameen, the four leaders signed a joint declaration on Friday, “agreeing to use their representation in parliament and in the political sphere to achieve the common objectives.” In October 2016, Maumoon Gayoom, who had ruled Maldives from 1978-2008 split from his younger half-brother President Yameen. Although he and Mr. Nasheed, the MDP opposition leader, who was jailed twenty times during Mr. Gayoom’s term, decided to join forces some months ago, this is the first time they have spelt out their plans.

Mr. Nasheed said their “first step” would be to bring a no-confidence motion to impeach the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Majlis. “With the four of us joining together we would have a parliamentary majority, and we should be able to do this soon,” he said. The Majlis is expected to take up the proceedings against the speakers on Monday, when the strength of the ruling PPM party will be tested. At present, Mr. Nasheed has 21 members, while the Jumhooree and Adaalath parties have 8, in the 85-member Majlis.

Mr. Nasheed said the next step for the alliance was to repeal legal amendments that allowed both Saudi Arabian and Chinese companies to acquire Maldivian atolls (island groups). Protests over reported Saudi plans to spend $10 billion for the Faafu atoll are understood to have forced Saudi King Salman to cancel his visit to the Maldives earlier this month, although officials had cited an outbreak of swine flu for the cancellation.

Maldivian Democratic Party founder and President-elect Mohamed Nasheed (right) poses with outgoing President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom during a press conference in the capital island Male on October 29, 2008, a day after the country's first multi-party presidential elections. | Photo Credit: AFP

In a detailed rebuttal to the allegations, President Yameen’s government had said categorically that “No atolls are being sold” claiming that the investment in the Faafu Atoll was part of “a major, multibillion dollar investment project encompassing mixed development, residential and high class development, and several tourist resorts and airports.”

However, Mr. Nasheed, who has also opposed similar Chinese investment in the atolls said there had been little transparency on the projects. “We are very worried that both Saudi Arabia and China have territorial interests in the Maldives. For the last 30 years, KSA has propagated a very narrow version of Islam in the Maldives, and now with this new venture, we know they have territorial interests too,” he told The Hindu.

Mr. Nasheed who is in exile after he left his 13-year term in prison in the Maldives for the UK citing a back injury, said he hoped to return to Male “in good time” for elections due in 2018.

When asked whether he and his supporters had forgiven Mr. Gayoom for the years he spent in prison prior to his surprise election as president in 2008, Mr. Nasheed said, “I think this is an opportunity we shouldn’t pass up. If we don’t find common ground we would slip back to worse than what the country saw in the 1980s and 1990s. I’m sure our supporters understand.”