PM Modi and Nepal PM Deuba hold bilateral talks in Lumbini. (Twitter)PM Modi’s Nepal Visit Live Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Monday held bilateral talks in Lumbini after laying the foundation stone of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage. Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi called it an “opportunity to strengthen ongoing cooperation and develop new areas in our multifaceted partnership.”
The construction of the Buddhist Centre comes decades after most foreign nations, including US, China, Canada, France, Germany and Thailand, among others, built their centres in Lumbini as an instrument of promoting Buddhist philosophy. It is expected to cost INR 1 billion and take three years to complete.
Earlier, PM Modi had offered prayers at the Maya Devi temple. Sharing images from the visit, Modi tweeted, “I feel blessed to have prayed at the Maya Devi Temple on Buddha Purnima. The PM was received by his Nepalese counterpart Monday morning as he arrived in Lumbini. After landing, the PM tweeted, “Happy to be among the wonderful people of Nepal on the special occasion of Buddha Purnima. Looking forward to the programmes in Lumbini.” The visit is focused on bringing soft power to the centrestage of India-Nepal relations while also marking Indiaโs formal presence at the holy site thatโs barely 10 km away from the border.
The site for Indiaโs Buddhist cultural centre. (Express photo by Yubaraj Ghimire)
Sharing images of PM Modi and Deuba holding bilateral talks in Lumbini, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi called it an “opportunity to strengthen ongoing cooperation and develop new areas in our multifaceted partnership.”
PM Modi's visit to Nepal is focused on bringing soft power to the centrestage of India-Nepal relations. In a statement ahead of his visit, Modi had said, "I also look forward to meeting Prime Minister Deuba again after our productive discussions during his visit to India last month. We will continue to build on our shared understanding to expand cooperation in multiple areas, including in hydropower, development and connectivity.”
Sharing images of his visit to the Maya Devi temple, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, "I feel blessed to have prayed at the Maya Devi Temple on Buddha Purnima. May Lord Buddha bless us all and make our planet peaceful and prosperous."
Post the foundation-laying ceremony for the Centre for Buddhist culture & heritage belonging to the International Buddhist Confederation, PM Modi along with Nepal PM Deuba participated in slogan chanting in Lumbini.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday laid the foundation stone of the Buddhist Centre in Lumbini and unveiled a model of the proposed structure.
Photos: Twitter/Arindam Bagchi
The India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in the Lumbini Monastic Zone in Nepal is expected to cost INR 1 billion and take three years to complete.
The Centre will be constructed by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), New Delhi, on a plot allocated to IBC by the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), under an agreement between IBC and LDT signed in March 2022, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
Once completed, the Centre will be a world-class facility welcoming pilgrims and tourists from all over the world to enjoy the essence of spiritual aspects of Buddhism. It will be a modern building, NetZero compliant in terms of energy, water and waste handling, and will house prayer halls, meditation centers, library, exhibition hall, cafeteria, offices and other amenities, the MEA added.
PM Modi autographed a sketch depicting him and Lord Buddha as he arrived in Lumbini, among chants of 'Vande Matram'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Monday laid the foundation stone of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage in Lumbini.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Monday laid the foundation stone of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage at a plot belonging to the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), Delhi, in Lumbini.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Monday participated in the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage in Lumbini. The Centre is expected to cost INR 1 billion and take three years to complete.
PM Modi offered prayers at the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini along with Nepal PM Deuba.
On his way back to Delhi, PM Modi will be visiting Mahaparinirvana Temple in Kushinagar, UP, which is said to be the place where Lord Buddha attained nirvana. He is also scheduled for a brief stopover in Lucknow to meet CM Yogi Adityanath.
Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Sher Bahadur Deuba were pictured watering the Bodhi tree together at the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini. Sharing the image over Twitter, the PM's office called it "a timeless bond of friendship".
Sharing an image with Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked him for a warm welcome in Lumbini.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Lumbini on Monday (May 16), the 2,566th birth anniversary of the Buddha, to lay the foundation of a monastery and to address a celebration at the Maya Devi temple. India will join more than a dozen countries including China, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea to have a monastery of its own in the global project.
As he spends several hours in Nepal on Monday, Modi will become the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Lumbini. He had expressed a desire to visit Lumbini during his first official visit to Nepal as Prime Minister in July 2014 — he had, in an address to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal on that occasion, acknowledged the birth of the Buddha in that country, reassuring Nepali sentiment that India would not try to appropriate it. Read why PM Modi's visit to Nepal is significant.
PM Narendra Modi and Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba offered prayers at the Mahamayadevi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal, on Monday.
PM Modi offered prayers at the Maya Devi temple on the occasion of Buddha Purnima. He was accompanied by Nepal PM Deuba. Following this, he will participate in a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage.
After landing in Lumbini, PM Modi tweeted, "Happy to be among the wonderful people of Nepal on the special occasion of Buddha Purnima. Looking forward to the programmes in Lumbini."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was received by Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba Monday morning as he arrived in Lumbini, Nepal. After offering prayers at the Maya Devi temple, he will participate in a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.
PM Modi will be arriving in Lumbini, Nepal shortly. Lumbini, considered as the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is a pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal.