Author: Vijay Swaroop, Patna vswaroop@hindustantimes.com
Publication: Hindustan Times
Dated: July 26, 2007
Gangajal (water from the Ganga) and 1,000
copies of Hanuman Chalisa - those are the precious gifts that Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar carried for the people of Mauritius when he embarked
upon a five-day tour of the island country on Wednesday.
"I am on a mission to strengthen the
cultural ties with Mauritius. It will help people to know each other. The
way migrants from Bihar who went to Mauritius to work on sugarcane fields
changed their own fate as well that of their adopted country by their sheer
labour is worth emulation," he said.
"We are carrying Gangajal as there is
a pond called Ganga Talab there into which the people pour the sacred water
of the holy Ganga," said Culture and Youth Affairs Minister, Janardan
Singh Sigriwal, a member of the official delegation. As regards copies of
the Hanuman Chalisa, Sigriwal said: "We have come to know that people
from Bihar have a peepal tree outside their houses and have fixed Hanumanji's
red flag on it. We will present them Hanuman Chalisas, which are in great
demand there."
Only a few days back, people of Badka Singhanpura,
the ancestral village of Mauritius' first independent PM, Sir Seewoosagur
Ramgoolam, had handed him soil from the village to be presented to current
PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam. Navinchandra is Sir Seewoosagur's son.
"The state-level gift is a handicraft
item purchased from Delhi Cottage Emporium, the ministerial gift consists
of elephants made of stone of different sizes and a pool gift of Madhubani
paintings," said Information and Public Relations Department Secretary,
Vivek Singh.
"After all, no CM from Bihar has ever
visited Mauritius and no other government tried to think about the Bhojpuri-speaking
people settled there," Sigriwal said.
