Varanasi, Dec 17 (Agency) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the culmination of ‘Kashi Tamil Sangamam’ being organised in Varanasi marks the beginning of confluence of two most glorious centers of Indian culture, knowledge and art. Addressing the closing ceremony of month-long Kashi Tamil Sangamam to celebrate the age-old links between the cultures of Varanasi and Tamil Nadu, Shah said, “This effort should have been made much before, however, we are grateful to PM Modi under whose vision India’s antiquity and glory stands united today. After Adi Shankaracharya, this is the first successful attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to connect the cultures of North and South in India.” He said, “After years of slavery, when the country attained independence, its cultural unity, diversity of heritage and different cultures were tarnished, however, India under PM Modi is not only celebrating but is reviving its lost glory and unity in Azadi’s Amrit year.” The Minister said that India is a country of many cultures, rituals, languages, values and arts, but among all if one looks closely then his soul is one and that soul is of India. “That’s why the scholars who study the existence and creation of countries around the world say that all the countries of the world are geo-political countries, but India is a geo-cultural country as it is made on the basis of culture.
Because we are a geo-cultural country, the basis of our unity is our cultures,” he said. He said that for a very long time there was no attempt to connect the cultures of our country. “PM Modi has made this effort after many centuries through Kashi Tamil Sangamam. I am sure this will prove to be an innovative effort to unite not only Tamil Nadu and Kashi, but the whole country in the coming days,” he said. Shah said that looking at the history, Adi Shankar had got his commentaries on Brahma Sutras approved here among the scholars of Kashi after coming from the South. “After this, this is the first successful attempt of Prime Minister Modi to connect both the cultures. I am sure this effort will never end. This effort is starting from here,” he said. The Home Minister once again emphasised that after independence there came a time when attempts were made to vitiate the cultural unity of the country. “Attempts were made to alienate the two cultures in many ways. The time has come to create Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat and that can be possible only by creating cultural unity of India,” he said.
He said that this program has worked to build a bridge between two lofty peaks of Indian cultures, Tamil and Kashi culture. “It is from here that the cultural renaissance of India is about to begin. Officially 2500 Tamil brothers and sisters from Tamil Nadu participated in this long program, but in reality more than 10,000 Tamil brothers have participated in this programme. It has worked to end a lot of distances,” he said. Stating that even though our country has a wide and diverse cultural expanse, Shah said, “Events like Kashi Tamil Sangamam are being organised to create a bridge between the extreme yet rich cultures of Tamil and Kashi, bringing about India’s cultural renaissance.” He said that the Prime Minister has made a lot of arrangements in the new education policy for the students to acquire the spiritual pride, traditional and modern knowledge in their mother tongue. “Our own language and its pride is the spirit of this new education policy,” he said. The Home Minister appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to implement Tamil language in medical, technical and law education in the educational institutions there, which would further strengthen the Tamil language.