Hon’ble Speaker Shri Vijender Gupta Ji addressed the Indian community at the Embassy of India in Santiago, Chile.
Namaskar, and buenas tardes.
Ambassador, members of the Embassy, and my dear friends of the Indian community in Chile it is a privilege to stand before you today, so far from home, and yet feel so completely at home.
I bring you the greetings of the people of Delhi, and of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, which I have the honour to serve as Speaker. Our Assembly is one of the oldest legislative institutions in India. It sits in a building where, more than a century ago, the Central Legislative Assembly of British India first met where the early debates of a nation still unborn took place. When I preside over that House today, I am conscious that I sit in a chair that belongs not to any individual, but to the long journey of Indian democracy. I carry that journey with me to Santiago.
India and Chile are separated by half the globe, but not by spirit. Both are ancient lands. Both fought for their freedom and built their democracies through struggle. Both have looked to the sea, to the mountains, and to their own resilience. And today, both are partners in trade, in minerals and energy, in agriculture, in Ayurveda and yoga, in education and technology. Our two governments are working to deepen this partnership, and the numbers keep growing. But agreements are signed in offices; friendships are built by people. You are that friendship.
Every one of you here is an ambassador of India not by appointment, but by conduct. The Chilean who meets an Indian doctor, engineer, trader, teacher or student forms a picture of India from that meeting. Through your hard work, your honesty and your warmth, you have given Chile a picture of India that no brochure could create. I want to thank you for that. The respect with which India is spoken of in this country is, in large measure, your achievement.
I also want to say this: India has not forgotten you. Our Prime Minister has often said that the diaspora is India's greatest strength abroad. In the last decade, India has transformed in infrastructure, in digital payments, in space, in manufacturing, in the confidence with which it speaks on the world stage. This transformation belongs to you as much as to those of us at home. Many of you send back not just remittances, but ideas, investment, and networks. Many of you bring Chile to India as much as you bring India to Chile.
As Speaker of Delhi's Assembly, I invite you in a very specific way. Delhi is the capital, but it is also a city of migrants every one of us in Delhi came from somewhere. It is the city that welcomes. When you next visit India, come to the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. See the House where the Constituent Assembly's spirit still lives. Bring your children, so they may see how the world's largest democracy conducts its business, and so they may know that this heritage is theirs too.
To the younger members of this community those born here, or raised here I have one request. Learn the language of your grandparents. Learn a little of India's history, its festivals, its philosophy. Not because you must choose between two identities, but because you are fortunate enough to hold both. A person who belongs to two great civilisations is twice as rich.
Let me close with a thought from our own tradition: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam the world is one family. You, living in Chile, working with Chileans, raising families here, are the living proof of that idea. You have made this distant land a part of India's family, and India a part of Chile's.
May the friendship between our two countries continue to grow, and may each of you continue to prosper in this beautiful land.
Jai Hind. Viva Chile. Viva India.
Muchas gracias.
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