PM Modi visits Buddhist temple in Bangkok, interacts with monks

India Today

During his visit to Thailand for the BIMSTEC Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, where he interacted with revered monks.

Transcript

00:00Staying with these pictures right now of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Thailand.

00:09These are pictures coming in from Bangkok where the Prime Minister is in a temple in

00:14Bangkok as we speak.

00:16The Prime Minister is there for two days, the BeamsTech Summit.

00:19And right now, remember our shared heritage is what the Prime Minister is emphasizing

00:24on at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok in Thailand at this point in time.

00:30Pictures are of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in Bangkok at a temple.

00:35India and Thailand share a shared heritage as far as Buddhism is concerned.

00:42Pictures are of the Prime Minister at a temple there.

00:49The Prime Minister on the sidelines of the BeamsTech Summit is there at a temple now

00:54in Bangkok as you can see in these pictures at this point in time.

01:13Thailand is ready for welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

01:17In fact, he's already got a grand cultural welcome and this point in time, a part of

01:23the BeamsTech Summit.

01:25The Prime Minister is at a temple right now as we speak as a part of India's shared heritage

01:35with Thailand as far as Buddhism is concerned.

01:39Geeta Mohan, a foreign affairs editor, has more on that story.

01:43The Prime Minister visiting the reclining Buddha temple in Bangkok.

01:48Geeta.

01:49Well, again, a very significant outreach.

01:53It seems like from Thailand, he's going to come to Colombo, which is where I am, Sneha,

01:58and in Colombo, in Sri Lanka as well, he's going to do the Buddhist outreach by going

02:03to Anuradhapura.

02:04Now, Wat Pho is a Buddhist temple complex, which is a very old one.

02:10It is on the Rattanakosin Island, is what we're told, directly south of the Grand Palace.

02:17He did meet with the monarchy, with the king as well, and again, this is the Buddhist circuit

02:25that India has been interested in.

02:27The temple is the first of a list of six important temples of the highest grade in Thailand,

02:36and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in that temple.

02:40We're also given to understand that it is associated with King Rama, who rebuilt the

02:47temple on an earlier temple site.

02:50So again, a lot of connect when it comes to heritage, culture, silence, the Buddhist connect,

02:59and how Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to use that as part of the Buddhist circuit

03:06that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been focusing and promoting, apart from the Ramayana

03:14circuit and the Mahabharata circuit.

03:16So a very important visit, but also emphasizing on the fact that both countries, and all most

03:23countries that he goes to, do not just share trade, economic connectivity ties, but their

03:29cultural and heritage ties between countries, and this certainly signifies that.

03:34Absolutely.

03:35Undoubtedly, India's efforts to place Buddhism at the heart really of India's foreign policy,

03:41isn't it?

03:42Reinforcing our role as a global center for Buddhism, Geeta.

03:45Well, Sneha, this has become a part of India's soft power policy, a part of India's foreign

03:53policy toolkit.

03:54Also, connecting countries with...

03:55We'll connect with Geeta in a moment from now, but we are getting you details of the

04:04Prime Minister's visit to Ceylon right now.

04:06He is at the Wat Pho temple, which is a temple of the reclining Buddha.

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