- Seychelles gives “Guardian of the Blue Horizon” award to Modi.
- Recognition certificate misspells “Republic” and “Seychelles”.
- PM Modi “putting the Indian Nation to shame”: Khawaja Asif.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire following a report claiming that multiple awards and honours he received during overseas visits were created shortly before his arrival in the respective host countries.
The controversy came to light after Modi received one of Seychelles’s “highest” honours during his recent visit to the archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean, according to a report by British publication The Guardian.
Seychelles President Patrick Herminie bestowed the “Guardian of the Blue Horizon” award on the Indian prime minister along with a trophy and certificate, it said.
However, social media users were quick to point out errors on the certificate, including the misspelling of “Republic” and “Seychelles”.
According to the publication, the award had been instituted just three days before Modi’s visit, making him its first and only recipient.
Adding to the controversy, the certificate was reportedly flagged as AI-generated by multiple detection tools.
The revelations triggered a political storm in India, with the opposition Congress party accusing Modi of pursuing personality-driven politics.
“Give him [Modi] any award, and he’ll come running,” Congress politician Supriya Shrinate wrote in a post on X.
“They were in such a tearing hurry that they even got the official name of the Republic of Seychelles wrong,” she added.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), however, defended the recognition, saying it was a “proud moment for India”.
Later, the Seychelles foreign ministry blamed a clerical error for the incident, saying “The Guardian of the Blue Horizon distinction is genuine”.
This, however, is not the first time Modi has become the first and only recipient of an award during a foreign trip.
During his visit to Israel last month, the Israeli parliament created what it claimed to be one of the country’s highest honours and bestowed it on Modi when he landed. The Indian premier remains the only recipient to date, as per the report.
Last year, Modi became the first foreign head of state to receive Ethiopia’s Great Honour Nishan and the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Reacting to the report about the honours, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the “engineered recognition” was either “the worst kind of cheap popularity, or the most malicious gratification”.
“Awards created days before arrival, certificates printed through use of cheap AI model, obvious spelling mistakes, and then [Modi] becoming first and the only recipient,” he wrote in a post on X.
According to the defence czar, Modi was “putting the Indian Nation to shame” due to his personality-driven politics.
