However, from early this year, Yameen’s jackboot policy of jailing dissenters, including judges, parliamentarians as well as his half-brother and former president, Gayoom, evoked a strong response from India, which expressed “dismay” at developments in Maldives. Yameen reacted by asking “foreign powers” to stay away from meddling in the country’s internal political developments, thus setting the stage for a renewed phase of antagonism in Male-Delhi bilateral ties. To make things worse, in a gesture of defiance, Yameen returned the two military helicopters that India had given Maldives.