Operation Flowers are Blooming
How India prevented a coup d’état in the Seychelles during the Cold War
It was the height of the Cold War. With the United States and the Soviet Union trying to divide the world into factions, the islands in the Indian Ocean were stuck. They had won their hard-earned independence from their colonisers, but now they were figuring out their foreign policies. South Africa in particular, tried to weaken the Indian Ocean islands like Mauritius, Comoros, and the Seychelles.
The president of the Seychelles was France-Albert Réne, a staunch socialist and a leader you could call a benevolent dictator. Despite trying his best to appear non-aligned like former Yugoslavia, India and Egypt, the world had noticed his true leanings. Anti-communist Seychellois expatriates in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa despised him and plotted against him.
The first coup attempt was by a South Africa-backed mercenary group lead by Mike Hoare. They disguised themselves as a rugby team and arrived in the islands on a Royal Swaziland flight. When arms were found in their bags, a gun battle ensued, and the mercenaries escaped in a hijacked aeroplane. This attempt opened Réne’s eyes. He increased security by hiring 50 bodyguards from North Korea and turned to India for support.
In early June 1986, the INS¹ Vindhyagiri sailed towards Port Victoria, the capital under the command of Captain S. Ramsagar to attend the Seychellois Independence Day celebrations. When it reached Port Victoria, the ship’s crew reported an engineering defect. 20 Indian engineers were dispatched there to solve the issue, while a local company was hired to perform some rudimentary repairs.
It was stuck there for the next 12 days, entertaining the Seychellois with enactments of assaults by its Sea King helicopter. Turns out that the engineers were Indian Navy sailors armed with weapons and the engineering defect had been staged. A few weeks earlier, Indian intelligence agencies had learnt of Operation Distant Lash, organised by high-ranking Seychellois ministers to oust Réne. And the result of that — Operation Flowers are Blooming. The extended stay of the ship and frequent demonstrations of its prowess had averted the coup.
This is where the story should end for most. But for Réne, it did not. Two months later, the Soviet Union apprised India of another coup attempt in the Seychelles. This time it had been revealed that Ogilvy Berlouis, the defence minister had choreographed both attempts. According to one source, Réne disguised himself as an Indian woman dressed in a sari on the 6th of September, met the Indian High Commissioner in the airport and took refuge at his place of residence.
The defence minister and the other co-conspirators were caught red-handed at Praslin, a nearby island. Another source illustrated that the coup was unmasked at the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) conference at Harare, Zimbabwe and that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lent his official plane, Air India 001 to Réne to arrive at Port Victoria early so that conspirators would be taken by surprise.
The Indian Ocean has always been an arena of warring powers vying for its resources and strategic location. This little-known incident during the Cold War tells us that power need not be exerted through gunboat diplomacy, but through cooperation and amity, resonating with the modern world as well.
¹Indian Navy Ship
Works Cited
Brewster, D., & Rai, R. (n.d.). Flowers Are Blooming: The Story of the Indian Navy’s Secret Operation in the Seychelles. Academia.Edu.
Ministry of External Affairs, India. (2017, December 18). India-Seychelles Relations — Political Relations. Retrieved August 2020, from Official Portal of the Ministry of External Affairs, India: https://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/sey_dec.pdf
AP News. (1985, May 7). Congo Mercenary Mike Hoare Released in South Africa. Retrieved 2020 August , from AP News Web Site: https://apnews.com/c69f06c447869e2d7d3b495b42f983ce
Prakash, S. (2015, March 10). Modi to the land where India staged `Operation Wild Flowers are Blooming`. (ANI) Retrieved August 2020, from Yahoo News: https://in.news.yahoo.com/modi-land-where-india-staged-operation-wild-flowers-125142165.html
