India pitching itself as “The land of Buddha”

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

More and more states in India are opening up for tourists with a lot of measures to be followed. In tune with this, the Indian tourism ministry is lending a helping hand with its “Dekho Apna Desh” campaign, pitching India as the land of Buddha.

Eyeing China and Buddhist countries in the neighbourhood, tourism minister Prahlad Patel stressed the need for bringing more Buddhist tourists to India, and asked tour operators last week regarding the reasons for India receiving only a fraction of these tourists.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed enthusiasm regarding Buddhist tourism, emphasizing the centrality of India to the Buddhist world and highlighting better connectivity to India’s Buddhist sites. He stressed the upgradation of Kushinagar airport as an international stop for allowing more pilgrims and tourists to visit India.

Tourism and culture minister Prahlad Patel has doubled down on India’s proposition to print all volumes of the Buddhist canon and provide copies to all monasteries across Mongolia.

The tourism ministry has also started promotional activities related to Buddhist sites, highlighting foreign language signage, including in Chinese, at crucial Buddhist sites like Shravasti, Sarnath, Kushinagar and Sanchi, visited by plenty of Buddhist tourists.

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