Madhavpur (Gujarat), Mar 31 (PTI) Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju has said that the sphere of influence of India's culture was much larger than the current physical boundaries of the country.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Madhavpur Fair in Porbandar district of Gujarat on Thursday, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started cultural integration of the country by organising programmes on the theme in different parts of the country.
Rijiju said events like the Madhavpur Fair, a vibrant cultural programme, bring people together and reaffirm the principle of "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat" (One India, Supreme India).
The 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' programme aims to enhance interaction and promote mutual understanding between people of different states and Union Territories through the concept of state/UT pairing. States carry out activities to promote a sustained and structured cultural connect in the areas of language learning, culture, traditions and music, tourism and cuisine, sports and sharing of best practices.
The Union minister said India's cultural influence transcends its current geographical swathe.
"Many people are not aware that the sphere of influence of India was much bigger than the present country. India's cultural influence covered an area from Kandahar (Afghanistan) and Takshashila (Pakistan), to Indonesia and beyond the Himalayas also. Kailash Mansarovar is way inside Tibet, then the line of control that we have with China," said the Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh.
"There were many reasons that we were reduced to our present (geographical) size. But the cultural spread of India is much bigger than the physical boundaries of the present country," he said.
PM Modi has started cultural integration of the country, said Rijiju and cited a series of events organised in different parts to achieve this goal.
"We have physical integration but cultural integration is also important," he said.
Programmes like the Madhavpur Fair, Kashi Tamil Sangamam and Gujarat Tamil Sangamam are all part of the initiatives taken by the prime minister for cultural integration of the country and push the idea of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat', he said.
People from Northeast come in large numbers to attend the Madhavpur fair, which is an attempt to revive old relationship between the region and Gujarat, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the marriage of Lord Shri Krishna and Devi Rukmini, for which the fair is organised every year, brings Northeast and the western state closer to each other.
As per life story of Lord Shri Krishna, he had married Devi Rukmini, who was from Northeast, at Madhavpur, a small seaside village. A fair is organised every year in Madhavpur to celebrate the marriage.