SPEECH BY SHRI K.R.NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, AT THE RECEPTION HOSTED BY MR. JEAN TIBERI MAYOR
OF PARIS
PARIS, MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2000
Governing Mayor, Mr.
Jean Tiberi,
Mrs. Xaviere Tiberi,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to express
my gratitude to you, Mr. Mayor, and through you, to the people of Paris,
for the hospitality extended to me and to my wife and members of my delegation.
I would also like to thank you for the gracious words spoken by you about
my country.
Paris is imprinted on
the mind of India as a symbol of all that is noble and ennobling in Western
civilization.
Over the centuries, Paris
has held fascination for Indians. Raja Rammohun Roy, the father of the Indian
renaissance, visited your city during 1830s; our incomparable spiritual
path-finder, Swami Vivekananda came to this city in 1900; Rabindranath Tagore,
who paid several visits to Paris and organised an exhibition of his paintings
in the city, exclaimed on his first visit, "What a gorgeous city!" Mahatma
Gandhi, the father of our nation, visited Paris in late 19th century and
wrote about his experience in his memorable autobiography.
For us, therefore, to
be in Paris is to be within Europe's creative mind; in her unceasingly questing
soul, questing for intellectual, aesthetic and cultural nourishment, and
questing for that sense of harmony. Paris is more than a city; it is the
soul of France and a paradigm of civilisational aspirations. Its vibrant
spirit encased in its marvellous bridges, its great museums, its captivating
Gothic Churches, the grandeur of Notre Dame, streets and market places,
is propelled by energy, the energy of a perpetual discovery of that which
is worth conserving, cultivating and creating in life.
And, of course, Paris
will always be remembered for what it has meant to human history. The Constituent
Assembly of France which met in Paris and fought many battles for freedom
impacted on us in India. Jawaharlal Nehru while moving the Objectives Resolution
in our Constituent Assembly in December 1946, referred to the glorious happenings
in Paris City. He mentioned pointedly the Constituent Assembly of France
which, not being provided a room by the then King to undertake its historic
task met in a Tennis Court and took an oath which in the pages of history
has come to be known as the Oath of the Tennis Court. The Assembly resolved
not to leave that venue until its task was over. That determination of the
Constituent Assembly of France was invoked by Nehru to remind the members
of our Constituent Assembly to continue their work till its conclusion was
reached. And so they did, opening the draft preamble to new Constitution
with the words gifted by France to humankind: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,
adding significantly for our context, the concept of Justice - social, economic
and political.
If our thought has been
awash with the vitality of the Seine, so has the vigour of the Ganga reached
you here. In his book Indika, Professor Jean-Marie Lafont has described
how India has influenced France, over the ages, including Camus through
the authors he studied.
Paris, Mr. Mayor, was
the scene of a major Festival of India in 1985. Since then, Parisians and
others in France have not ceased to discover Indian dance and music and
its arts in general. Concerts of Indian dance and music organised by the
Theatre de la Ville and the periodic film festivals organised by the Cenematheque
Francaise, not to mention the activities related to Indian arts conducted
by a variety of other organisations, including the Theatre du Soleil, show
that Paris can also keep to the rhythms of India. The proliferation of Indian
restaurants in Paris shows that the appeal of Indian cuisine extends to
the Parisian palate.
Today, Paris boulevards
carry names of the greatest of India's leaders: Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath
Tagore. Streets with names such as Saraswatee and Mondovi evoke Indian myths
and legends.
Mr. Mayor, it seems to
me high time that an Indian Cultural Centre is established in Paris to co-ordinate
and expand the variety of cultural activities that has been taking place
in Paris.
Cities, Mr. Mayor, are
not museums but living spaces, with all the problems relating to services,
traffic control, environmental pollution control, preservation of green
spaces, cleanliness, law and order, modernisation of facilities that all
large urban centres present. Paris is a rare city, large but with a human
dimension; beautiful but functional; blending street life with privacy,
a city in which historic beautiful monuments blend tastefully with modern
buildings. And the nerve-centre of this city is this building over which
you, Mr. Mayor preside. The Paris Municipality can be proud of its work.
Mr. Mayor, through you,
I extend my greetings and those of the one billion people of India, to all
the residents of Paris and wish them every happiness.
Thank you
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