Opinion | PM Modi In Seychelles: Honouring 50 Years Of The Indian Ocean Bond

Modi’s presence in Victoria this week is, at one level, about the $175 million package. At another, it is the latest instalment in a bond that began two and a half centuries ago

The story of India and Seychelles does not begin with a diplomatic cable or a bilateral summit. It begins in 1770, when five Indians arrived on an uninhabited archipelago as plantation workers alongside seven African slaves and 15 French colonists, and were recorded as the islands’ first inhabitants.

That is where this relationship has its roots: in migration and labour and the ordinary human necessity of finding somewhere to belong. Over two-and-a-half centuries, those roots have grown into something far more consequential.

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When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Victoria on June 27 as the Guest of Honour for Seychelles’ Golden Jubilee, he was honouring a bond that predates the nation he was there to celebrate. The symmetry of the occasion was evident to everyone. Fifty years ago, when Seychelles gained independence on June 29, 1976, a contingent from INS Nilgiri was present at the celebrations. This year, PM Modi arrived with two Indian Navy ships and a defence contingent. It was continuity and an assertion that India’s presence in the Western Indian Ocean has been consistent, not opportunistic.

A Relationship That Predates Diplomacy

The Indian connection to Seychelles is unlike most bilateral relationships in one fundamental respect: it was built from below before it was formalised from above. A steady flow of Indians from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and later Gujarat settled in the islands across the 19th and 20th centuries, working as traders, labourers and construction workers. During British colonial rule, Seychelles was, for a period, administered from the Bombay Presidency, and regular trade routes between the islands and the subcontinent attracted Indian merchants who had reached saturation in East Africa and were seeking new........

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