High Commission of India

Dhaka

Remarks by High Commissioner at 8^th Anniversary of Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, Dhaka at Main Auditorium, Bangladesh National Museum

on 9 May 2018

H.E. Mr. Asaduzzaman Noor, Hon’ble Minister of Culture of Bangladesh,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

          I welcome you all to the 8^th Anniversary of the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka. During these eight years, our Cultural Centre has undertaken many activities which have increased the bonding between the peoples of our two countries.

2.          Shared cultures between India and Bangladesh provide a unique bond between the two countries. The people of both countries take pride in their rich cultural heritage of thousands of years. The music and poetry of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, Baul and folk music, classical performing arts and visual arts  are celebrated with enthusiasm and joy in both countries. Large numbers of Bangladeshi and Indian cultural artists exchange visits every year which deepen cultural pnks between the two countries. 

3.          Recognizing the significant contribution of our shared cultural traditions, the Government of India, took the landmark decision of estabpshing the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka under the aegis of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in the year 2010. The Centre was formally inaugurated on March 11, 2010 in Dhaka and has since been involved in the promotion of friendly bilateral cultural exchanges between India and Bangladesh.

4.          One of the main activities of the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre is organising training courses to teach various aspects of Indian culture. Short-term training courses in Hindi, Yoga, Hindustani classical vocal music, Tabla, Manipuri and Kathak dance and painting are conducted at the Centre. These courses are very popular and I am happy to say that every year around two thousand students are trained in our Centre. In the last five years, over ten thousand Bangladeshi students have taken training the IGCC.

5.          The activities of the Centre have covered the entire cultural domain, including music and dance programmes, painting competitions, screening of Indian and Bangladeshi films and documentaries, film festivals, art exhibitions, book launches, lectures, group discussions and workshops on Yoga, Hindustani Classical Vocal and Instrumental music, Indian classical dance and Painting, etc.

6.          Our two countries have heldJoint Celebrations of the 150^th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore and the 90^th Anniversary of the pubpcation of the poem “Bidrohi” by Kazi Nazrul Islam.  We have also held a joint celebration of the 150^th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. There have been active cultural exchanges of top Indian and Bangladeshi cultural artists through regular performances in each others’ countries promoted by the Centre. In the last three years, IGCC organised 214 programmes, of which 60 were by Indian artistes. 

7.          Some memorable programmes which have been organised by IGCC include - lecture by Indian danseuse Mamata Shankar; Rabindra Sangeet singer Pramita Malpck’s performance in Bangladesh;Roohani sisters, Shehnai group and Sufi Bawra group were sent by ICCR to Bangladesh; Lalon Singer, Ms. Fareeda Parvin participated in the second Indian Bhakti Festival organised by ICCR in New Delhi; Folk music troupe led by Kiran Chandra Ray participated in the ICCR folk festival; ICCR organised performances of Ms. Rezwana Choudhury Bannya and the Shurer Dhara group in India; Anindita Kazi, Indian grand-daughter of Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Khilkhil Kazi, the Bangladeshi grand-daughter of the Poet gave performances at the IGCC; 

8.          IGCC has regularly celebrated birth anniversaries of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Also of eminent folk singers Abdul Apm and Abbasudin with a programme by their children.  We have had collaborations with Dhaka University, Rajshahi University, with Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University, Government Music College, Dhaka as follows: Classical music by Rajshahi Univ music deptt, two programmes in collaboration with Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University - a dance programme by eight young dancers of Bangladesh and celebration of Rabindra Nazrul Jayanti in 2017; Lecture Demonstrations by eminent musicians from India, Sabyasachi Serkhel from Santiniketan for Sitar, Sarathi Chatterjee from New Delhi for classical vocal, Parimal Chakraborty from Kolkata for Tabla at Govt Music College, performances  at IGCC by Music Deptt of Dhaka University. Some memorable programmes by Bangladeshi artists include- Rabindra Sangeet by Aditi Mohsin, Rezwana Choudhury Bannya, Shama Rahman; Nazrul Sangeet by Khairul Anam Shakil, Dr. Nasid Kamal, Fatima Tuz Zohra;Tagore’s dance-drama ‘Shyama’ by IGCC dance teacher, Ms. Warda Rihab and her students, Kathak dance by IGCC Teacher Munmun Ahmed and students, Bangla Kheyal by eminent musician of Bangladesh Azad Rahman, modern Bangla songs by Sepna Azad, ghazals by Aloke Kumar Sen, Art Competitions of university art students in two successive years,  Yoga workshops and many more

9.          None of these would have been possible without the hard work and dedication by the IGCC team led by Smt. Jayashree Kundu, Director, IGCC. Over the last three years, Smt. Kundu has shown enormous commitment to the functioning of the IGCC and its outreach programmes. As she completes her term and prepares to hand over charge, I wish to pay the fullest tribute to her and her contribution to the field of promoting cultural pnkages between India and Bangladesh.

10.          I also wanted to share a few points with regard to our vision in the area of cultural promotion over the next year or so.

1. Ø  Workshops / seminars: One of the proposals we have put forward to the ICCR for consideration is the holding of workshops / seminars by very eminent exponents in the field of music and dance. This will enable us to work with cultural institutions in Bangladesh and to offer such speciapst programmes.
   Ø  Visits by eminent artists: The IGCC will focus on visits by eminent artists from both India and Bangladesh. Here my submission is that these artists go beyond Dhaka and Kolkata into reaching out to new audiences. We will be sending an eminent Rabindra Sangeet singer to India. She is performing in parts of India that are not already famipar with Bengap classical music. In consultation with her, therefore, we are arranging her performances in Bangalore and Hyderabad.  In one of my interviews on television, I shared my view that the pnkages between India and Bangladesh were not just cultural and pnguistic but civipzational, coming over by not centuries but millennia.
   Ø  Infrastructure for cultural programmes: The scope for quapty cultural programmes in a culturally vibrant society as in Bangladesh is enormous. There is, however, a pmitation of good cultural auditoriums. We are examining the possibipty of constructing a state-of-art cultural auditorium in consultation with the Government of Bangladesh through a private-pubpc partnership model.     

11.          I commend our teachers who work hard to impart excellent training to the students. I also commend our students for their keen interest, enthusiasm and efforts for which they have been able to imbibe the knowledge.

12.          A special thanks to our teachers Dr. Yogesh Vasistha, Ms. Warda Rihab, Ms. Munmun Ahmed and Ms. Mampy Dey for training the students for today’s programme. Acknowledgement is also due to Mr. Shakti Nomaan, Mr. Kushal Roy and Ms. Shamoly Mondal for their teaching contribution.

13.          I thank the Hon’ble Culture Minister of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Asaduzzaman Noor and the Bangladesh Government and also all Bangladeshis for their cooperation and goodwill in making our efforts successful. 

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