Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said India has given the world not ‘yuddha’ but ‘buddha’, which means it has always given peace and prosperity and hence the country is going to further strengthen its role in the 21st century.
Addressing the Indian community in Vienna, Prime Minister Modi also said that India is working towards becoming the best, the brightest, achieving the greatest accomplishments and reaching the highest milestones.
“For thousands of years we have been sharing our knowledge and expertise. We have given the world Buddha, not war. India has always given peace and prosperity and so India is going to strengthen its role in the 21st century,” Prime Minister Modi said in Austria, a day after he arrived here from Moscow, where he highlighted the importance of finding a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict during talks with President Vladimir Putin.
Describing his first visit to Austria as “fruitful”, Prime Minister Modi said it was after 41 years that an Indian Prime Minister was visiting the country.
He said, “This long wait has ended on a historic occasion. India and Austria are celebrating 75 years of their friendship.”
“Geographically India and Austria are at two different ends of the ocean but we have many similarities. Democracy binds the two countries. Our shared values are liberty, equality, pluralism and respect for the rule of law. Our societies are multicultural and multilingual. Both countries celebrate diversity and elections are a great medium to reflect these values,” he said amid chants of “Modi, Modi”.
Recalling the recently concluded general elections, Prime Minister Modi said that 650 million people exercised their franchise and despite such a large election, the results were declared within a few hours.
“This is the power of our electoral machinery and democracy,” he said.
There are over 31,000 Indians living in Austria. According to the Indian Embassy here, the number of Indian students in the country is over 450.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
