Glaring errors, aid timing: Why Seychelles’ ‘hurried’ award for Modi has sparked a row
PM Modi conferred Seychelles’ hastily created ‘Guardian of the Blue Horizon’ award amid USD 175-mn aid; Opposition slams misspelt certificate and timing
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no stranger to international awards and honours, often becoming their first and sole ever recipient. However, the much tom-tommed Guardian of the Blue Horizon award handed over to him on Sunday (June 28) by Seychelles President Patrick Herminie has churned up a storm, with the Opposition accusing the government of bagging a “prestigious” award for the prime minister at the cost of USD 175 million (more than Rs 1,600 crore) in economic aid for the island nation.
What has sparked the controversy is the hurried manner in which the award was instituted in the first place. Modi visited Seychelles from June 27 to June 29, attending Seychelles’ National Day (independence day) golden jubilee as the guest of honour—the first Indian prime minister to do so. And the honour was officially instituted by the Seychelles Cabinet only three days before his arrival, on June 24, making PM Modi its first-ever recipient.
'AI-generated' certificate replete with errors
In fact, it was so hurried that the official award certificate and seals are replete with spelling mistakes. Shortly after images of the presentation were made public by BJP members, the award certificate and its accompanying seals went viral on social media platforms for the errors—prompting many netizens to speculate that the Seychelles government used AI to come up with the design.
Also read: Modi attends Seychelles' National Day celebrations during 3-day visit
The official seal explicitly misspelled the country’s own details, displaying “Repubblic” instead of “Republic”, and “Seycheeles” instead of “Seychelles”. Besides, the Latin motto on the coat of arms emblazoned on the top of the certificate mistakenly used the word “OPUS” instead of the correct classical spelling “OPVS”.
The image of the certificate given by Seychelles to PM Modi doing the rounds of the internet. Neither India nor Seychelles has officially shared a photo.
Public scrutiny escalated when OpenAI’s digital verification tools detected an embedded SynthID watermark within the circulated certificate image, suggesting that the graphic layout of the certificate was possibly generated using AI image tools rather than by a professional designer.
Questionable timing of award
While neither India nor Seychelles has officially published the citation anywhere, they have not denied the viral claims either. Defenders have clarified that Seychelles recently scrapped its entire legacy national awards system due to internal transparency issues. The parliament had newly repealed the old law, forcing them to rapidly pass the new Presidential Distinction framework just ahead of Modi’s high-profile State Visit.
Also read: PM Modi pays tribute to Gandhi, meets Indian diaspora in Seychelles
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has maintained that the visit successfully expanded strategic bilateral agreements spanning healthcare, shipping, space cooperation, and maritime security.
However, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate quickly pointed out in a long X post the timing of India’s heavy financial commitments to Seychelles. The award coincided with India granting Seychelles a USD 125 million credit line and USD 50 million in grant that won’t have to be repaid—a total of USD 175 million (more than Rs 1,600 crore) in economic aid.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also posted a photo of the dubious certificate on X, with the caption: “Hon’ble PM ji loves awards. He loves foreign travel. He used our money to give ₹500 crores grant & ₹1250 crore line of credit to Seychelles who happily gave him a misspelt certificate.”
Modi and first-time awards
Shrinate also pointed out that this is not the first time Modi has received an “exclusive” award—one that was seemingly invented only for him. “Before this too, Israel gave Modi a similarly amazing award, and before that, some foreigners gave him the Philip Kotler award—these haven’t been given to anyone either before Modi ji or after him,” Shrinate took a dig.
Also read: PM Modi in Seychelles: India signs agreements on defence, UPI, healthcare
During Modi’s visit to Israel earlier this year, he was conferred with the Medal of the Knesset by Speaker Amir Ohana during his address to the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) on February 25. It was created as a new, highest distinction awarded by the Knesset to recognize figures who have made exceptional contributions to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Modi is its first and so far the only recipient of the award.
As for the Philip Kotler Presidential Award, it was presented to Modi on January 14, 2019, by Kotler Impact Inc. and the World Marketing Summit, both of which were founded by renowned marketing professor Philip Kotler. Modi remains its first and only recipient as it was never given out again.
Deserving of a ‘green’ award?
What also got the Opposition and netizens’ goat is that the Seychelles award specifically honours Modi “in recognition of his green leadership”, and “his longstanding commitment to promoting the Blue Economy, climate action, the sustainable management of ocean resources, and the developmental aspirations of Small Island Developing States”.
Opposition parties have questioned how the prime minister can accept a global environmental award while his administration pushes forward with heavily criticized, ecologically sensitive infrastructure projects, such as the Great Nicobar plan.