Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan praised External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for the latter's "India not a bully" remark. The actor said "well done" while responding to the Union Minister's remark.

On Monday, he posted a video of Jaishankar on X, and captioned it, "WAH .. !!! well said Sir."

Jaishankar's remark came amid an ongoing diplomatic row between India and the Maldives.

While addressing an event on March 2 to promote his book 'Why Bharat Matters', Jaishankar said "big bullies don't provide $4.5 billion aid when the neighbours are in trouble" while responding to a query if India was being perceived as a "bully" in the region.

The External Affairs Minister's remark was a veiled dig at Maldivian President Mohamad Muizzu's statement in January when he said that no country had the right to "bully" the island nation.

At the event, Jaishankar also said that "big bullies don't supply vaccines to other countries when Covid-19 is on or make exceptions to their own rules to respond to food demands or fuel demands or fertiliser demands because some war in some other part of the world has complicated their lives".

He also stressed that India's trade and investment with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives have seen a sharp rise over the past few years.

Last month, the Maldivian President further complicated the situation when he announced that the first group of Indian military personnel will be sent back from the island nation before March 10, while the remaining Indian troops manning two aviation platforms will be withdrawn by May 10.

Source: India Today