Congress slams PM Modi’s Seychelles visit as ‘Masterly hypocrisy’

The Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of hypocrisy for visiting the Giant Tortoise Enclosure in Seychelles while pushing the Great Nicobar Island Project, calling it an ecological disaster driven by corporate interests. Modi, meanwhile, highlighted India-Seychelles friendship through the Aldabra Giant Tortoise and handed over a patrol vessel to strengthen maritime security.

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday said it was hypocritical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the Giant Tortoise Enclosure at the Seychelles National Botanical Garden, as it accused him of destroying habitats of many such species with his government’s Great Nicobar Island Project.

The remark came from Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who in a post on X, referred to the prime minister’s weekend visit to the Seychelles and a tributary post to the Aldabra Giant Tortoise.

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“This is typical of his masterly hypocrisy. The Great Nicobar Island Project he is bulldozing through will destroy the habitats of so many species including that of the leatherback turtles,” Ramesh said on X.

“Thousands of coral colonies will be obliterated. The island’s unique biodiversity — known, still being discovered, and not yet known — is all set to be devastated,” the former Union Environment minister said.

Ramesh said in this regard he has written multiple letters to the Defence Minister, the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the Minister of Tribal Affairs and the Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways.

“The exchanges continue but the Prime Minister is hellbent on inflicting an ecological disaster – all in the interest of the Modani empire,” he alleged.

Earlier in the day, Modi posted a picture of his visit to the Giant Tortoise Enclosure at the Seychelles National Botanical Garden with President Dr Patrick Herminie.

“The Aldabra Giant Tortoise, which is native to Seychelles, is among the largest and longest-living species on Earth, with some of them witnessing over two centuries of history.

“The Aldabra Giant Tortoise also have an association with the special friendship between India and Seychelles. In 2014, two of them were gifted to the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata. A few years later, Seychelles gifted a few more tortoises to Hyderabad Zoo,” Modi said in his post.

The prime minister landed in Seychelles on Saturday on a three-day official visit, where he handed over a ‘Made in India’ fast patrol vessel to the nation’s coast guard, in a reaffirmation of New Delhi’s commitment to strengthening the archipelagic nation’s maritime security capabilities.