Narendra Modi met Patrick Herminie in Seychelles on Sunday, June 28, and said work was progressing on a $175 million special economic package. The talks took place during Modi’s state visit to Seychelles, while Sonam Wangchuk began an indefinite hunger strike at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on the same day.
India and Seychelles talks
The package under discussion covers social housing, transport, skill development, food security, education, and defense. Modi and Herminie held delegation-level talks as India and Seychelles worked through a broader agenda that links economic delivery with maritime and security ties.
Modi also became the first Indian prime minister to address the National Assembly of Seychelles on Sunday. Seychelles conferred of the Blue Horizon title on Modi the same day, and Modi said he humbly accepted the honor and dedicated it to countries fighting climate change and protecting the environment for future generations.
Indian Ocean as shared home
At a joint press conference with Patrick Herminie, Modi said, "Our vision is to make the Indian Ocean an Ocean of Opportunity," and added, "We believe the Indian Ocean is our shared home. Its security, sustainability and prosperity are our shared responsibility." The wording tied the package to a wider Indian Ocean agenda in which India is pressing for visible delivery, not just declarations.
That delivery point matters because the source says work is still being carried out across the package’s sectors, which means the most practical question for Seychelles is how quickly projects move from discussion to implementation. Social housing, transport, skill development, food security, education, and defense each require separate execution, so the package will be judged sector by sector rather than as one announcement.
New Delhi protest week
Wangchuk’s hunger strike gave the day a second, unrelated pressure point in New Delhi. The Cockroach Janta Party has been holding a days-long sit-in demonstration since June 20 and wants Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over alleged exam irregularities, with Abhijeet Dipke identified as the party’s founder in May.
Sonam Wangchuk and Abhijeet Dipke paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat earlier on Sunday, and the protest movement said, "We won't stop till accountability is set," in an Instagram post announcing Wangchuk’s strike. For Seychelles, the immediate story stays with the package: the next step is implementation across the named sectors, because the talks now rest on whether India and Seychelles turn the $175 million framework into work on the ground.
