Amid 'boycott Maldives' row, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatesh Prasad urges fans to explore Indian islands

New trends have been going around on X (formerly known as Twitter) after a Maldives minister made insulting remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi following his recent visit to Lakshadweep. Soon enough, Indians took to social media with "boycott Maldives" trending across. 

Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar also broke his silence on the matter and took to his official X account to share a clip of him playing cricket and a photo of the Indian coastal town, Sindhudurg. 

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In the post, the legendary cricketer says, "250+ days since we rang in my 50th birthday in Sindhudurg! The coastal town offered everything we wanted, and more. Gorgeous locations combined with wonderful hospitality left us with a treasure trove of memories. India is blessed with beautiful coastlines and pristine islands. With our 'Atithi Devo Bhava' philosophy, we have so much to explore, so many memories waiting to be created".

Even former Indian player Venkatesh Prasad also condemned the Maldives minister's remarks on India. 

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"A deputy minister using such language for our country. Maldives is a largely poor country largely dependent on upmarket tourism with over 15% of tourists from India. India has very many unexplored beautiful coastal towns, and this is a great opportunity to develop many of them into tourist destinations," Prasad wrote on X.

Soon after the comments were made, it was reported that the Maldives government suspended three of its ministers - Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha, and Hassan Zihan - for their derogatory remarks about India's Prime Minister. Maldives government spokesperson Ibrahim Khaleel was quoted by local media, stating, "All government officials responsible for the comments have been suspended from their posts effective immediately."

However, one of the suspended ministers, Hassan Zihan, disputed the news and labeled the information as "Fake."