"India's Diversity Fascinating, Provides Good Model For Us": French Envoy

French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain on Monday heaped praise on India's diversity and how impressively the country handles it at the launch of Bonjour India 2022.

"Indian diversity is fascinating, and it has the capacity to handle this diversity. We feel it's very modern. Living in a more globalized world, it's a challenge for all of us to handle this diversity of influences of culture, information ... We feel, India, in that respect, provides a very good model. Obviously, it's not easy for us, overall, India is very impressive," said the French envoy.

Mr Lenain made the statement at the fourth edition of Bonjour India 2022.

Bonjour India 2022 will showcase in 19 Indian cities a program of 120 events created in collaboration with French and Indian partners, in domains including education, science, literature, cinema, gastronomy, street art, performing arts and photography.

"We are delighted to bring a new edition of Bonjour India to 19 cities across the country. With 120 events, it is one of the most important cultural festivals ever organized by France abroad. This is telling about the importance of India for France, and the quality of our partnership," said Mr Lenain.

This edition marks the 75th anniversary of the independence of India and the establishment of diplomatic relationship between France and India.

"We built this festival as a present from France to the people of India. The poster reflects this intention, in the form of a birthday card, in different Indian languages," said Mr Lenain

"You can see that we chose an illustration of The Little Prince as the main picture on this poster, for various reasons: The Little Prince is a novel about friendship, and the festival reflects on the long-lasting friendship between the people of France and the people of India."

The French envoy added, "It is the book that usually first comes to mind in India when people think of French literature. It is the world's most translated book, excluding religious books. It was translated in more than 300 languages and dialects, including Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, and even Sanskrit."

The Little Prince, despite turning 75 himself four years ago, is a character that still speaks very much to the youth. Young people find this book very modern and are particularly interested in its philosophy.

"It is proof that you can still be young at 75! In addition, it is our aim to talk to the youth of India. It is a priority of our strategic partnership, as reflected in our efforts to welcome more and more Indian students to France for university mobility programs," said Mr Lenain.

Bonjour India is a collaborative work of the whole French cultural network in India. It comprises French institutions like the French Embassy and the French Institute in India, as well as the network of 14 Alliances francaises (which are Indian organizations dedicated to the promotion of the French language and culture) and many cultural partners throughout the country, who are coproducing or hosting some of the events.

Bonjour India is a two-way program with India, which organizes the Namaste France festival at the same time in France.

"I would like to thank the Government of India, in particular, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, for this continued collaboration in the cultural domain. We are honoured to have Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi attend the launch of Bonjour India tomorrow night," said Mr Lenain.

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