‘Give him any award, and he’ll come running’: Narendra Modi racks up honours on overseas trips

Narendra Modi received the Guardian of the Blue Horizon award, with trophy and certificate, from the Seychelles president, Patrick Herminie, at the weekend. Photograph: State House Office of the president of the Republic of Seychelles Narendra Modi received the Guardian of the Blue Horizon award, with trophy and certificate, from the Seychelles president, Patrick Herminie, at the weekend. Photograph: State House Office of the president of the Republic of Seychelles ‘Give him any award, and he’ll come running’: Narendra Modi racks up honours on overseas trips Indian prime minister has a habit of collecting awards on his travels, some as their first and only recipient As Narendra Modi touched down in Seychelles over the weekend, the archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean swiftly bestowed one of its “highest” honours upon the Indian prime minister. Modi beamed as he accepted the Guardian of the Blue Horizon award from Patrick Herminie, the Seychelles president, complete with a trophy and certificate. Observers soon pointed out that several things appeared to be off about the award. The certificate misspelled “republic” as “repubblic”, and even “Seychelles” as “Seycheeles”. The award, it transpired, had only been created three days before Modi’s arrival and he was the first and only recipient. To add to the furore, when run through software, the certificate was widely flagged as AI-generated. The opposition Congress party were quick to jump on the controversy, claiming: “Give him [Modi] any award, and he’ll come running.” “They were in such a tearing hurry that they even got the official name of the Republic of Seychelles wrong,” the Congress politician Supriya Shrinate said on social media. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) hit back, saying it was a “proud moment for India” for him to receive the award for his “green leadership”. View image in fullscreen Modi concludes his state visit to Seychelles, ‘a proud moment for India’ for him to receive the award, his party said. Photograph: State House Office of the president of the Republic of Seychelles As critics have pointed out, Modi has shown a notable penchant for receiving awards, at home and abroad, over his 12 years in power. Last month, days before Modi’s visit to Israel , the Israeli parliament quickly created what it claimed to be one of the country’s highest honours, the medal of the Knesset, which was bestowed on Modi when he landed. Again, he is the only recipient to date. In 2019, Modi also became the first recipient of India’s Philip Kotler presidential award, given to the prime minister for his “outstanding leadership of the nation”. According to the government’s press release, the honour was to be bestowed annually to the leader of a nation. However, no other leader has since been given the award and its website lies dormant. ‘Messianic spell’: how Narendra Modi created a cult of personality Read more It is privately acknowledged that accolades and awards have become an expectation dur