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Text of Ambassador's Talk on 'India-Japan Relations -
Past, Present and Future' at Shinnyoen,
1-12-13, Shibasaki -cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo
on 8th December 2005
Good afternoon everyone and thank you for this opportunity to speak to you on
India and Japan-India relations.
2. I am particularly honoured to be with you on this very auspicious day on which the Sakyamuni had found enlightenment over 2500 years ago. I will, therefore, take this opportunity to share some thoughts with you on the Buddha's lasting legacy, which our two countries share.
3. I will start by saying a few words on India's evolution as a civilisation and a culture.
4. India, as a culture and a civilisation, is over 5000 years old.
5. The broad contours of what India is today, as a composite cultural entity, started taking shape about 3000 years before Christ on the banks of the Indus River in the shape of the Indus Valley Civilisation and our country derives its name - India - from this River.
6. From that early dawn of our history, many streams of races and ethnicities, faiths and philosophies, conquerors and settlers, pilgrims and students have poured into India in wave after wave.
7. The Aryans, who came from Central Asia, were the first to arrive around 1500 B.C. Starting as Nomadic cattle-raisers, they eventually settled down as agricultural communities in the vast Gangetic Plains.
8. The Aryans composed the Vedas and laid the foundation of the Hindu way of life with its inclusive ethos and its emphasis on equal respect for diverse faiths.
9. The advent of the Buddha in the 6th century before Christ and his message of peace, compassion and human brotherhood made a great impact on Indian thought and philosophical tradition. I will come back to this theme a little later in my Talk.
10. Judaism came to India some 200 years before Christ and Christianity was first brought to our country in 53 A.D. by St. Thomas the Apostle long before it reached Europe.
11. Islam was first brought to India in the 7th century, in a peaceful atmosphere, by Arab traders who had been coming to the southwest coast of our country by the sea route long before the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.
12. Later, from the 10th century onwards, Muslim invaders of diverse origin came on the land route. Large parts of India then came under the rule of a succession of Muslim dynasties which lasted for over 800 years.
13. When the Muslims adopted India as their home, they came in contact with the Hindu way of life with its deep-rooted values and traditions. The impact of this interaction between Islam and Hinduism on India's ever-evolving culture was inestimable.
14. Zoroastrians, the worshipers of fire, came and made India their home when they were driven out of Persia - present-day Iran - on the arrival of Islam in that country in the 8th century A.D. The Zoroastrian (Parsee) community, though very small in size, has made a significant contribution to India's cultural diversity.
15. Following the discovery of the sea route from Europe to India by the Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gama in 1498, European colonizers first arrived in the garb of traders from Portugal, France and Great Britain. India then became the theatre of rivalry among them. The British eventually took control of large chunks of Indian territory.
16. For two centuries, the British exploited our land ruthlessly, drained our nation of much of its wealth and were responsible for India missing the Industrial Revolution. But they also brought with them new ideas and the English language.
17. There had, since time immemorial, been a pervasive sense of civilizational oneness across sub-continental India. Starting with Emperor Chandragupta Maurya in the 4th century BC, several attempts had been made over time to bring about political unification of the country.
18. However, British colonial rule unwittingly ignited an irrepressible urge for political unity and independence among the Indian masses. This led to a massive but peaceful movement for freedom under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
19. The British were eventually persuaded to leave our land and India emerged as a free nation on 15th August 1947.
20. India has thus been at the crossroads of multiple influences for centuries and its creative genius has drawn strength from all the different cultures and religions that have found place in its welcoming fold. This ethos of openness and acceptance, this tradition of assimilation and synthesis account for the richness, the diversity and the longevity of our culture.
21. Just as the ocean receives a thousand rivers with open arms and absorbs them in a confluence of harmony, India has, throughout history, accepted, absorbed and assimilated the many races, religions and philosophies that came to our land from outside. This long process of synthesis has led to the emergence of what India is- a land of harmony and unity in the midst of many-fold diversity.
22. India today is the home of over a billion people, representing a diverse mixture of racial, religious, ethnic and linguistic groups. 5 major races, all important world religions, 22 constitutionally recognized languages, 900 dialects and a host of sartorial and culinary varieties coexist in perfect harmony in our country.
23. Let me now share with you some facts about where we have reached since we gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and in what direction we are headed in this century.
24. Our success in transforming an ancient civilization, with its inclusive and accommodative ethos, into a modern unified and strong nation is a matter of legitimate pride for us.
25. Harmonious coexistence among followers of different faiths, based on our belief in the equal validity of all religions, is a defining feature of our society. 150 million Muslims, the second largest after Indonesia and 25 million Christians, larger than most countries in Europe, live in peace and harmony with their fellow citizens belonging to the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian and Jewish faiths.
26. At a time, when much anxiety is caused by the talk of the inevitable clash of civilizations, our experience in fostering harmony and brotherhood among diverse racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups may provide a way for the future of human civilisation.
27. Our vibrant democracy, with its well-established rule of law is independent India's big success story. It has provided a resilient base for steady growth with stability. It makes India a dependable partner for long-term economic cooperation and a safe destination for Foreign Investment.
28. Our economic progress since independence, in particular in the last 15 years, has been remarkable.
29. In the last 15 years, the economy has grown at an average of 6%. It is expected to grow at 7 to 8% during the next decade and will be the only economy expected to maintain over 5% annual growth for the next 50 years.
30. The now well-known Goldman Sach's Report released in October 2003 predicts that by 2030, the Indian economy will become the third largest in the world after the USA and China and that our GDP will cross the US$ 27 trillion mark by 2050. Another study by the Deauche Bank says that India may become world economy number 3 by as early as 2020.
31. Our demographic trends are positive. They are a source of great strength and will place India in a situation of advantage for several decades to come.
32. While declining birth rates and a shrinking workforce is causing concern to many developed countries, India is one country that is actually growing younger.
33. Over 550 million of our billion plus population are today below the age of 25. By 2015, more than 820 million will be in the active working age group of 15 to 55. This demographic trend is likely to continue for decades..
34. We have the second largest reservoir of trained manpower. Our universities and technical institutions produce over 2 million graduates, 300,000 non-engineering post-graduates, over 200,000 engineers and some 9,000 PhDs every year. We have about one million IT software engineers and this figure will cross the 2 million mark by 2010.
35. This vast pool of young and well trained Indians have already made an indelible mark on the global stage. They are making India a preferred outsourcing and services destination in knowledge intensive industries. They will place India in a situation of advantage in the knowledge industry which will dominate the 21st century.
36. In the field of foreign relations, the concept of the world being a single family has been India's unique contribution to mankind. We have always been a peaceful society and aggression is not part of our national character.
37. Independent India's role in the international arena has been responsible and constructive. It has been and continues to be our effort to work for a stable, democratic and equitable world order in which all nations, big or small, can coexist and prosper in an atmosphere of peace, harmony and cooperation.
38. Let me conclude my remarks on India by saying that, with its civilizational attributes, its cultural assets, its natural, human and intellectual resources, its deep-rooted democracy and rule of law and its steadily growing economy, India is on the threshold of emerging as a major economic power house and as an important player in the international arena.
39. Friends. The shared legacy of the Buddha has provided the strong foundation in which our age-old friendship is securely rooted. I, therefore, wish to share a few thoughts on the Buddha and the importance of his message of peace and companion to our troubled times.
40. India has been fortunate that a chain of great teachers, seers and saints have been born on our soil and have provided spiritual guidance to mankind as a whole. The Sakyamuni occupies a unique place among them.
41. Buddhism, as a living faith, has grown over the centuries and has been enriched by the spiritual and cultural traditions of countries in which it has taken roots. And yet, the essence of the Buddha's message continues to retain its universal validity and its eternal relevance.
42. We all know about the Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath in which he spoke of the four noble truths while explaining why the world is full of suffering and what we must do to overcome it.
43. A noteworthy feature of that sermon and the Buddha's subsequent discourses was that he spoke in a language that everyone could easily understand. His message captured the hearts of common people because it was one of universal benevolence, compassion and practical wisdom.
44. His thoughts were imbued by a scientific temper that was centuries ahead of his time. In everything he preached, he relied on reason, logic and experience.
45. How were the Buddha's thoughts influenced by the cultural and intellectual environment in which he was brought up? What imprint has he left on the evolution of India's spiritual traditions?
46. I wish to briefly share some perspectives on these questions, which crop up whenever discussions on the Buddha's legacy take place.
47. Siddhartha Gautama, as the Buddha was called in his childhood, was born to Hindu parents and grew up in a typical Indian environment.
48. While the Middle Path between the extremes of indulgence and asceticism and some of the key concepts of his teachings bear the impress of his unique personality, the Buddha was very much a product of the Indian spiritual environment.
49. A defining characteristic of the Hindu way of life, as I mentioned earlier, has been its inclusive ethos of openness, acceptance and accommodation. Hinduism's basic approach to larger philosophical issues has been that there is no monopoly in truth, that there can be a variety of ways of seeing and approaching truth and that no one may have full comprehension of the whole truth.
50. In keeping with this intellectual tradition, the Buddha emphasized that his teaching was not meant to be a full explanation of everything.
51. His advice to his followers was: "Each man has to choose for himself, out of his own experience, what is good for his spiritual welfare. Each man must find his own way. Buddhas are but sign-posts."
52. This is similar to what God-incarnate Krishna tells his human disciple Arjuna at the end of his discourse in the Gita, the pre-eminent Hindu scripture. Krishna says: "I have shared with you the secret of secrets. Now ponder over it and, in the end, act as you think fit."
53. There are endless examples which show that the teachings of the Buddha were very much a part of the centuries old Indian philosophical tradition though the Sakyamuni attained towering spiritual stature through his unique message that attracted worldwide following.
54. Distinguished friends. Remarks on the Buddha and Buddhism in India would remain incomplete without a brief reference to Emperor Asoka, whose main contribution was to emphasise that only peaceful means should be used for preaching and spreading one's faith. Asoka also emphasised the need for showing equal respect for the faiths of others.
55. This further reinforced the ethos of Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava - equal respect for all faiths - that had been an important aspect of India's spiritual tradition since ancient times.
56. In our troubled times, when intolerance and violence are perpetrated in the name of faith, we will all gain by rededicating ourselves to the essence of the Buddha's message of universal brotherhood and compassion, of toleration and harmony.
57. As joint inheritors of the Sakyamuni's spiritual legacy, as two peace loving nations and as Asia's two leading democracies, Japan and India can play a leading role in this regard.
58. Let me now briefly talk about Japan-India relations.
59. Japan-India friendship has a long history. We have known each other ever since the Budha's gentle message of compassion and universal brotherhood arrived here over 1400 years ago.
60. Bodhisena, the Indian Buddhist monk, was here over a thousand years ago at the consecration of Daibutsu at the Todaiji temple at Nara.
61. Our two cultures have been mutually enriched by constant interaction throughout our history.
62. In more modern times, Tagore and Okakura joined hands in building new bridges of understanding between our two great Asian nations.
63. Our common Asian identity has been an important aspect of our relations, which have happily remained free from historical, territorial and other disputes.
64. The foundations for our contemporary relations were laid after the Second World War when the young elephant named "Indira", gifted by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, became the symbol of peace and affection between our two countries.
65. Their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress of Japan, then Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, had made a deep impression on the minds of our people by their grace and charm during their visit to India in November-December 1960.
66. When the Showa Emperor died, the Government of India had declared a three-day mourning. This gesture had touched the hearts of the Japanese people
67. Our two countries have stood by each other in times of difficulty.
68. The dissenting judgment of Justice Radha Binod Pal in the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal is well-known to the Japanese people and will always symbolize the affection and goodwill our people have for your country.
69. India had, as you may know, refused to attend the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951 and signed a separate peace treaty with your country because we felt that Japan was entitled to a proper position of honour and equality in the comity of free nations.
70. Similarly, Japan had extended full support to our freedom movement. You have provided us with very valuable developmental assistance since the 1950s and we greatly appreciate the fact that India is today the largest recipient of Japanese Overseas Development Assistance.
71. Our friendship has been further reinforced by our shared commitment to democracy, human rights and freedoms and free market economy.
71. The foundation of our friendship is thus strong.
72. And yet links between our two countries have not developed fully. There has been an impression that, psychologically, for most people in Japan, India is an unfamiliar and distant land.
73. Today, we live in another age. The end of the cold war and the advent of globalisation have altered the international landscape. A new era is unfolding itself in Asia and the world at large.
74. In the post-Cold War world, our national interests are nowhere in conflict. On the contrary, We have converging interests and similar perceptions of various regional and international issues.
75. We have a common stake in promoting economic integration, peace and equilibrium in Asia.
76. The synergies and complementarities in our two economies offer immense potential for enhanced economic cooperation that will benefit both countries. We must shed past inhibitions and fully exploit untapped opportunities.
77. The information and communication technology revolution holds out exciting opportunities for India-Japan collaboration. India's cost-effective and innovative software skills can be productively coupled with Japan's undoubted prowess in the hardware industry for the benefit of both countries. If we join hands, we can lead the world in the IT sector.
78. Taking into account the new challenges and fresh opportunities unfolding before us in this changed environment, our two countries decided to forge a global partnership in the 21st century during former Prime Minister Mori's landmark visit to India in August 2000.
79. Our friendship has steadily gained in strength since Mr. Mori's visit and there is a paradigm change in the political ambience of our relations.
80. In this context, it is gratifying that the visit of PM Koizumi to India in April this year has been a great success. The two Prime Ministers agreed on an 8-point plan of action to take our relations forward and opened the way for further deepening and widening our cooperation in the new Asian Era
81. Friends; The people of India have always admired the Japanese people for their courteous nature, their rich culture and, above all, their sense of determination to succeed in adverse circumstances. Your achievements are an example and a source of inspiration for us.
82. Speaking on Radio Japan on 11th October, 1957 during his visit to your country, our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said and I quote: Japan obviously has an important role to play in Asia and the world and I honestly trust that Japan will play that role by helping the cause of Asian solidarity as well as the world's solidarity.
83. Prime Minister Nehru's words were prophetic. Japan has indeed come a long way in the last 60 years, since the end of the Second World War when it renounced war, adopted democracy and actively contributed to peace and development in the world.
84. As the second largest economy and a vibrant democracy, there is no doubt that Japan is destined to play a significant role in the resurgence of Asia and in the emergence of a new global order.
85. India, as I have said earlier, is also on the threshold of emerging as a major economic powerhouse and as an important player on the international scene.
86. The time is, therefore, ripe for our two countries to work together to promote the causes dear to our two peoples in this new age.
87. The voyage of 'Global Partnership', on which our two countries are embarked, is full of promises for our two peoples. Our cooperation will contribute significantly to making this century truly the century of Asia. Our collaboration will be an important factor in the emergence of a new peaceful, equitable and democratic world order.
88. Since I arrived here in November 2003, I have found a new surge of interest in India among the Japanese people. This desire for closer friendship is reciprocated fully by the people of India. We are, therefore, looking to the future of our relations with a lot of anticipation and confidence.
89. I thank you for you attention.
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