NEW DELHI: Giving thumps down to India’s ambition to reach out to new allies, India appears to have lost ground in Seychelles. India and the Seychelles signed a revised agreement two months ago for the building of military infrastructure on Assumption Island but Seychelles’ opposition has refused to allow it to be ratified by their Parliament.
Seychelles president Danny Faure acknowledged the opposition to the agreement and announced he would not present it to the national assembly in April as planned. He said he had been told that he had been told by the leader of the opposition, Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan and ruling party members that they would not allow the agreement to go through "in its present form". Faure was in India recently to participate in the inaugural summit of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

"It is therefore not proper for me to send the agreement to the Speaker when the Leader of the Opposition, who is in majority in the Assembly, has signaled he will not ratify it," Faure was quoted as saying. Faure refuted the perception of the agreement creating a military base for India on Assumption, saying it was actually a "Seychelles Coast Guard facility." There have been public protests against India in Seychelles for the past couple of months raising fears that India would appropriate the island.