The Hindu : Front Page : Project India’s secular, pluralist tradition abroad: N. Ram

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Project India’s secular, pluralist tradition abroad: N. Ram

M. Dinesh Varma

— Photo: V. Ganesan

Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi launches a book authored by South Africa-based historian Shireen Sarojini Mundali Munsamy by handing over the first copy to Kanimozhi, MP, on the final day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conclave in Chennai on Friday. Dr. P.C. Alexander, former Governor of Maharashtra, and N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu (second from right), are also seen.

CHENNAI: The projection of India’s cultural heritage abroad should highlight the country’s secular, pluralist and multi-ethnic tradition, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, said on Friday.

In his keynote address at a plenary session on “Indian Diaspora: Preservation of Language and Culture” on the final day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention, Mr. Ram said there had been instances when festivals on the India theme hosted by private organisations had projected an image of the country that was at variance with its pluralist, multi-ethnic and multi-religious fabric.

While instances of narrow-minded bigotry and brutal violence militated against this idea of India, the concept had proved to be a resilient and durable civilisational commitment.

Mr. Ram said it was notable that post-Independent India had chosen a secular and democratic path and consistently refused to ride roughshod over its core principles. He also stressed the need to revive centres devoted to the preservation and enrichment of classical literature by establishing centres of excellence, not necessarily in India.

Kanimozhi, MP, who chaired the session, said every member of the Indian diaspora faced the conflict of striking the right balance between assimilating the social mores of their adopted home and holding on to the Indian cultural values.

Pointing to the Centre’s plans to project India’s soft power (music, dance and arts) in countries with a diaspora presence through the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Ms. Kanimozhi sought an evaluation of whether the project should “preserve culture or empower it.”

An empowered culture was live, vibrant and connected to the lives of the people of the times, she said.

Ms. Kanimozhi also doubted whether the declaration of Tamil as a classical language by the Centre and the State government, though laudable, constituted an end in itself.

“We must make sure that the next generation will continue to use and enrich the language.” It was important that languages constantly evolve, adapt to new developments ranging from cartoons to innovation in science, and stay anchored in local sensitivities, she said.

The former Governor of Maharashtra, P. C. Alexander, said the most important component of Indian culture was its spiritual content. It was the spiritual anchorage more than achievements of the mind or the body that had sustained the culture for over 6,000 years, he said.

Singapore’s Minister of Law K. Shanmugam said his country followed a practical approach towards sustaining ethnic identities of its Chinese, Malay and Indian diaspora. Seeing diversity “as a strength than a weakness,” the policy was to maximise the space for Singaporeans and the diaspora communities to work together while at the same time taking pains to ensure that each community retained its ethnic identity and culture, he said.

The main challenge was that modern-day parents and their children failed to appreciate the importance of their own language usage in relation to learning English, or what is regarded as a fascination for “U.S. soft pop culture.”

Toronto Police Board’s Chair Alok Mukherjee also raised the issue of private-funded festivals projecting an inaccurate image of India. He said his organisation was aware that intimate knowledge of the communities they served was a basic necessity.

Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi launched a book authored by historian Shireen Sarojini Mundali Munsamy by handing over the first copy to Ms. Kanimozhi.

The Vice-Chancellor of University of South Pacific, Fiji Islands, Rajesh Chandra; the president of the Indian Academy of South Africa, T. P. Naidoo; and the Vice-Chancellor, European University of West and East, Netherlands, M. K. Gautam, also spoke.

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