‘Double cross, first class’: Why India’s Modi wins so many foreign awards 

During his June 27-29 visit to the Seychelles, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was graced with a trophy never seen before – a pristine, pyriform azure prize created especially for him, titled the “Guardian of the Blue Horizon”.

The award did not exist before Modi’s visit to the Seychelles. And the citation accompanying it was riddled with embarrassing misspellings: the country that conjured up the award, and was bestowing it on Modi, was called the “Repubblic of Seycheeles”.

Those mistakes were the outcome of a “rush job” that invited “ridicule”, said Nitasha Kaul, a professor of politics and international relations at Westminster University in the United Kingdom.

Yet Modi’s Blue Horizon award now sits neatly next to an array of similar trophies and medals in his foreign visit collection. When he has made diplomatic visits to other countries, Modi has more often than not left with an award, often – including the one from Indonesia on Tuesday – created just for him.

“These awards are not about India’s diplomacy; they’re about Modi’s image,” Kaul told Al Jazeera.

Here is more about the recent Seychelles award, others Modi has racked up over the years, and what they say about how several countries treat diplomatic ties with India under its current leadership.

The award, described as the Seychelles’ highest civilian honour, was presented by President Patrick Herminie to Modi in Victoria during a State House ceremony.

Modi was given the award in recognition of his “distinguished leadership and commitment to sustainable development, environmental conservation, and climate resilience”. He received a physical trophy and a certificate.

When images of Modi’s special certificate emerged, observers pointed out several typographical errors, including “repubblic” instead of republic and “Seycheeles” instead of Seychelles.

The errors earned ire from opposition politicians.

“The world has figured Modi out. Give him any award, and he’ll come running,” Supriya Shrinate from the Congress Party wrote in an X post on June 28.

“They were in such a tearing hurry that they even got the official name of the Republic of Seychelles wrong,” Shrinate added.

The Foreign Ministry of Seychelles issued a clarification on Thursday, stating that the image circulated of the certificate was of a “working draft” rather than the final certificate.

“The Guardian of the Blue Horizon distinction is genuine,” the ministry added.

The Seychelles cabinet had approved the award just days before Modi landed.

Which other countries have given Modi awards?

Modi has received more than 30 accolades during his foreign visits over the past 12 years in office.

In Indonesia on Tuesday, he was awarded the Bintang Adipurna, the host country’s highest civilian award.

In June, Modi received the highest national honour of the Slovak Republic, the ”Order of the White Double Cross, 1st Class”. Despite the way some might read its title, the honour is genuine, is reserved for foreign nationals, and has been presented to world leaders before, including Bronislaw Komorowski, former president of the Republic of Poland and Heinz Fischer, former president of the Republic of Austria.

This medal is the highest state decoration awarded by the Slovak Republic, reserved almost exclusively for foreign nationals who have significantly contributed to the development of relations between their home nations and Slovakia.

But while Modi isn’t the first leader to receive Slovakia’s Double Cross award, he is the first and only recipient of the Speaker of the Knesset Medal, given to him during his trip to Israel in February. The award was created shortly before the Indian prime minister’s visit, which came on the eve of the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Which other awards has Modi received?

In 2018, Modi won the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, the UN’s highest environmental honour, presented annually to recognise global leadership in environmental protection and sustainable development.

In 2019, he won the Global Goalkeeper Award presented by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in New York for his leadership in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) programme, which aims to improve sanitation in India.

Also in 2019, Modi won the World Marketing Summit’s first and only Philip Kotler Presidential Award, which is supposed to be bestowed on a world leader annually. No other world leader has received the Philip Kotler Presidential Award since then.

Are these awards helping India?

While receiving each of these accolades, Modi has made a point to emphasise that they honour India, not just him. And that countries feel obliged to make up new awards to somehow honour India’s leader arguably demonstrates their desire to keep New Delhi happy, illustrating the growing global clout that the world’s largest democracy enjoys.

However, some experts cast doubt on their real value.

“No doubt New Delhi will argue that these awards reflect the esteem in which India is now held in the world, but it is hard to see their diplomatic or economic benefit to the country as a whole,” Ian Hall, a professor of international relations at Australia’s Griffith University, told Al Jazeera.

“Instead they reinforce the view that the PM is not as focused as he might be on practical action to advance India’s interests.”

Others say the awards do more for Modi’s image than India’s position diplomatically.

“These awards function as a prop for the egotistical strongman politics that Modi embodies,” Kaul told Al Jazeera. “He and his supporters use them to construct the myth of an internationally respected statesman, a myth increasingly detached from his actual record in global diplomacy.”

Kaul added: “The Seychelles episode, with its rush job and misspelt certificate, is a case in point: these are not about India’s diplomacy, they’re about Modi’s image. And increasingly, they’re inviting ridicule rather than respect.”