New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Poland sees India as a very “effective partner”, and the two countries can do things together, especially when the world has become a very unpredictable place, and there are “many disruptive forces”, Polish envoy Piotr Antoni Switalski said on Thursday.
In his address at an event hosted by the Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, on the theme ‘India-Poland People Connect’, he said, “We can build really an axis of stability, predictability, and good model for the global governance” and send a “good signal” to the outside world by doing good things together.
The Polish ambassador to India also underlined the cultural ties between the two countries, and mentioned the benevolent roles played by the then Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, Sir Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, who had sheltered Polish children during the World War II.
He is known in Poland as the “Good Maharaja” and there is a Good Maharaja Square in Warsaw.
“He is a very emotional factor which makes for India, a special place in our hearts, the hearts of Poles,” the envoy said.
Switalski also spoke of a museum coming up in Kolhapur to mark the benevolent act of the then royal family of Kolhapur, which was at the forefront of giving shelter to Polish women and children displaced due to the horrors of World War II.
Between 1942 and 1948, around 5,000 Polish refugees found shelter in Valivade, near Kolhapur, after being displaced by the tragedy of the Second World War. The settlement grew into a vibrant ‘Little Poland’, complete with schools, a church, and community life, offering hope and dignity to families far from their homeland, the Polish embassy had said in a social media post in June.
In 2019, a memorial pillar was unveiled and the foundation for a museum was laid to preserve the memory of the Polish refugees who lived in Valivade. The museum is now nearing completion and ready to serve as a place where members of the Polish diaspora can reconnect with their family histories and the remarkable legacy of India’s humanitarian spirit, it said.
The envoy said Poland is spending billions of euros on procurement, “and, we see India as a very attractive partner” because in some areas of defence production, India is very advanced and it has the scale.
He also said Poland sees India as a “very effective partner” and “we are ready to work with you” in agriculture and other fields, and “our companies are ready to work with you.” “Some of the Indian companies are investing and operating in Poland. And I’m very glad, because Poland should be considered by your companies, as a friendly gateway to the European Union, to its big market, half a billion consumers,” he said.
He underlined that Poland and India may have a great asymmetry in terms of their sizes, and separated by thousands of miles, with rivers, seas, oceans, mountains, deserts, separating them.
“But, as we know, geography is a superficial measure of distance. As they say, true closeness is measured by the mind, the spirit, and the tongue. And I want to take you on a journey that reveals that Poland and India are not distant strangers, but ancient structural cousins, bound by a profound historical and emotional architecture,” the envoy said.
He underscored how the Polish language uses words which have roots in Sanskrit, and added that even his surname has Sanskrit roots.
“When Poland and India are looking at each other, we are looking into a mirror,” he said.
“We can do things together, in times when the world has become a very unpredictable place, where the situation is quite turbulent, where you have so many disruptive forces. When you look at India and Europe, and Poland in particular, you can see that we can build really an axis of stability, predictability, and a good model for global governance,” the envoy said.
“And that’s probably why our relationship… When I say Poland, I mean also the European Union, is much more important than simply bilateral dimension. We can send a good signal to the outside world, by doing good things together,” he said. PTI KND VN VN
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