NEW DELHI: As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received yet another foreign award during an overseas visit, criticism began pouring in from both domestic opponents and international media. Notably, the British newspaper The Guardian published an article examining his growing list of accolades.
Critics argue the backlash is somewhat justified, pointing to how quickly the award was put together and highlighting multiple spelling mistakes on the certificate itself.
The certificate misspelled “Republic” as “repubblic” and even botched the name of the country, writing “Seychelles” as “Seycheeles”. Furthermore, it transpired that the award had only been created three days prior to Modi’s arrival, making him its first and only recipient. To add to the furor, when the certificate was run through verification software, it was widely flagged as AI-generated.
The Indian Prime Minister has shown a distinct fondness for receiving accolades, both at home and abroad, over his 12 years in power.
Last month, just days before Modi’s visit to Israel, the Israeli parliament quickly created what it claimed to be one of the country’s highest honors—the Medal of the Knesset—which was bestowed upon Modi as soon as he landed. Again, he remains the only recipient to date.
Similarly, in 2019, Modi 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 initial press release, the honor was meant to be bestowed annually upon a global leader. However, no other leader has been given the award since.
Within the past year, Modi has also become the first foreign head of state to receive Ethiopia’s Great Honour Nishan and the Order of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.
India’s main opposition party, Congress, heavily criticized the Prime Minister. “Give him any award, and he’ll come running,” they stated.
“They were in such a tearing hurry that they even got the official name of the Republic of Seychelles wrong,” Congress politician Supriya Shrinate wrote on social media.
On Thursday, the Seychelles foreign ministry responded with a statement claiming that a “working draft” had accidentally been circulated and that an “authentic and duly approved” version had now been issued.
On the other hand, the ruling BJP defends the accolades, asserting that the awards are a direct recognition of Modi’s rising international stature.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of a biography on Modi, weighed in on the strategy behind the accolades: “The intention behind collecting these awards—often bestowed in circumstances that raise eyebrows—is to convey to supporters and potential converts that Modi is being honored across the world because of his greatness, and that India’s rising clout is entirely due to Modi’s personality.”