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.
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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.