Indian PM Modi arriving in Lumbini today

Lumbini, May 16: Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Lumbini, Rupandehi, on Monday. The Indian Prime Minister is arriving in the birthplace of Buddha on the occasion of the 2,566th Buddha Jayanti at the invitation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to arrive by a helicopter at around 11 am. According to the itinerary shared by Vinay Mohan Kwatra, secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs of India at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday, Modi will start his visit by participating in a prayer at the Mayadevi Temple. 

The temple marks the site of the birth of Lord Buddha, which is established through the epigraphic evidences provided by the pillar erected by Emperor Ashoka commemorating his visit there over two millennia ago in 249 BC. 

Modi will thereafter visit the adjacent monastic zone in Lumbini where he will lay the foundation stone of a centre for Buddhist culture and heritage building. This project is being developed and built by the India-based International Buddhist Confederation and is located in the west monastic zone of Lumbini. 

Thereafter, Indian and Nepali dignitaries and officials will engage in bilateral talks, Kwatra said, where Indian PM Modi and Prime Minister Deuba will pick up from where they left off in New Delhi last month. This is a reference to Prime Minister Deuba’s official visit to India from April 1 to 3.

Kwatra has informed that the two leaders would discuss cooperation in multiple areas including hydropower development, development partnership and connectivity.

In the last official event for the day, Prime Ministers Deuba and his counterpart Modi will attend celebrations organised by the Government of Nepal to mark the Buddha Jayanti which will be participated by Buddhist monks and scholars. 

The entire city of Lumbini has been cleaned and decorated for the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The historic Mayadevi Temple as well as other archeaological structures in the area have been decked with flowers of various kinds, the lawn mowed and the area made colourful with lights to welcome Indian PM Modi and his 11-member delegation.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, his spouse Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba, members of the Council of Ministers, Lumbini Province's  Chief Minister Kul Prasad KC, among other officials will welcome Prime Minister Modi at a helipad built near the Lumbini International Buddhist Meditation Centre and Assembly Hall.

PM Modi will spend around six hours in Lumbini where the Indian and Nepali sides will engage in bilateral talks and sign five separate agreements related to education, cultural exchange and technology.

This visit will add to the positive momentum in our bilateral ties generated by high level exchanges, including by the last visit of Prime Minister Deuba to India, Kwatra said. “The visit also reaffirms our commitment and demonstrates the priority that government of India attaches to the neighbourhood.”

Nepal hopes that this visit will contribute to further strengthening the bilateral relations and the age-old socio-cultural bonds between the two countries, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

During the one-day visit, Prime Minister Deuba will host a luncheon in honour of his Indian counterpart Modi and the visiting delegation.

This is Indian Prime Minister Modi’s fifth visit to Nepal. He had visited Nepal twice in 2014 and twice in 2018. However, this will be his first visit to the birthplace of Gautam Buddha. Visits had been scheduled on prior occasions but they could not materialise. With regard to religious places, Indian PM Modi has previously visited Pashupatinath, Janakpurdham and Muktinath.

According to our Bhairahawa correspondent Laxman Paudel, the Lumbini Development Trust has built four helipads, cleaned and decorated Lumbini’s international conference centre as well as the surrounding areas and set up welcome gates in several places as a preparation of the high level visit from India.

Our Lumbini correspondent Shyam Shankar Pandey also reported that officers from Indian’s Special Protection Group (SPG) arrived in Bhairahawa on Thursday via an Indian Air Force plane. 

Pandey talked to Superintendent of Police (SP) Rabindra Regmi, chief of Rupandehi District Police, who said that the Indian officers had coordinated with Nepali security personnel to manage security of Modi entourage.

Besides enhancing bilateral ties, tourism business operators of the region hope that Modi’s visit will help boost pilgrimage tourism here.

Pintu Baniya, secretary of the Lumbini Tourism Entrepreneurs Association, told The Rising Nepal that such high-profile visits would serve to promote Lumbini as an attractive destination for Indian visitors.