India has "culturally controlled and dominated" China for over 2,000 years, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday, pitching for using tourism to increase India's global influence.
It is tourism that could make India a superpower, he said at the finale of Paryatan Parv, a nationwide tourism festival organised by the Tourism Ministry.
Hu Shih, who was the vice-chancellor of Peking University during the Chinese Revolution, "has written that India has culturally controlled and dominated China for more than 2,000 years without sending a single soldier. That is the effect of India", the minister said.
"If China has been controlled culturally by any country, it is India and this fact was accepted by Hu Shih," Singh said.
He said India is a country of unity in diversity and tourism can play an important role in making it a superpower.
"We should collectively try to increase the share of tourism in our GDP," he said.
He informed that the Ministry of Home Affairs has also undertaken several measures to promote tourism and that the private sector should also be involved in its promotion.
The 21-day festival was celebrated across the country in collaboration with other central ministries and state governments.
Tourism Minister KJ Alphons said his ministry has already started musical performances at many heritage sites and is expecting private parties to adopt such sites.
The three-day grand finale will end on October 25 on the Janpath lawns.