In his visit to the Indian community in Bali, Indonesia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed his admiration for the world-famous Bali Yatra in Cuttack.
Modi commended the annual trade and industry exhibition conducted every year in Cuttack on the banks of the Mahanadi river while addressing the Indian community on the margins of his attendance at the G20 meeting. The Bali Yatra honours Odisha’s lengthy maritime heritage and its historic commercial relations with Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
“Bali Yatra (Bali Jatra) Mahotsav is taking place in Cuttack, India, 1500 kilometres away from here, as I speak to you in Bali and we sing songs from Indonesian traditions. The Prime Minister noted that this Mahotsav honours the thousands of years of trade between India and Indonesia.
Modi continued to exude delight by declaring that when Indonesians see pictures from this year’s Bali Jatra online, they will be proud and joyful.
“Some obstacles have surfaced as a result of the COVID-related problems. After several years, Odisha is celebrating Bali Jatra Mahotsav on a large scale with widespread participation, according to the PM.
India and Indonesia have cooperated to protect one another’s magnificent cultures. Bali is a holy place where great saints like Maharshi Agastya resided. We are united by our cultures, he said, noting that Indonesia has Mount Agung and Tirta Ganga while India has the Himalayas and the Ganges.
The Prime Minister also emphasised the role played by the Indian diaspora in Indonesia’s success story.
India has a lot to offer Indonesia in its 75-year-long development process. PM Modi reiterated his remarks from his previous visit to the Southeast Asian nation in 2018, saying that the two nations’ relations are strong in both prosperous and challenging times.
Despite the fact that Indonesia and India are 90 nautical miles apart, he claimed that we are actually only 90 nautical miles apart.
Prasanta Patnaik