In May this year, when Chinese premiere Li Keqiang called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi to congratulate him on his election victory, the conversation had veered towards the memoirs of the famous seventh century Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang.
Modi had told Li about how Tsang had visited his hometown Vadnagar in Gujarat during his 15-year stay in the country in the seventh century.
No wonder, much Before official dinner between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi was planned on the banks of Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, a political envoy from China visited Vadnagar to explore possibilities if the meeting could be held at this historic site.
Finally, Ahmedabad was chosen for the meeting for security and connectivity reasons. But Modi’s birthplace Vadnagar, along with other Buddhist settlements in Gujarat, may still figure in the talks between the two leaders on September 17, Modi’s birthday.
A special dossier on Vadnagar, prepared by three different Gujarat government departments, will be presented to the Chinese diplomatic team. There is a possibility of a tie-up between the two governments for a cultural project in Vadnagar and other Buddhist sites.
