Warsaw (Poland): PM Modi arrived in Warsaw on Wednesday for a two-day visit, the first by an Indian PM in the past 45 years. He also remembered the time in World War II when Polish women and children found refuge in two princely states in India – Jamnagar and Kolhapur.
The bilateral relationship is the focus
“My visit to Poland comes as we mark 70 years of our diplomatic relations. Poland is a key economic partner in Central Europe. Our mutual commitment to democracy and pluralism further reinforces our relationship,” PM Modi said in his departure statement earlier in the day.
Prime Minister Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome in Warsaw. He will call on President Andrzej Sebastian Duda on Thursday and will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He is also scheduled to interact with the Indian community in Poland, a vital part of the visit.
“Our bilateral trade is substantial. And it’s of the order of US$6 billion, which makes Poland India’s largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Indian investments in Poland are estimated at around US$3 billion. And the Polish investments into India are around US$1 billion,” said Tanmaya Lal, secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday while announcing PM Modi’s visit to Poland and Ukraine.
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PM Modi has met his Polish counterpart on four occasions in the latter’s earlier capacity as the President of the European Council.
He also spoke over the phone with President Duda in March 2022, thanking him for Poland’s assistance in evacuating Indian citizens from Ukraine and for the special gesture of relaxing visa requirements for Indian citizens crossing over to Poland from the conflict zone. More than 4000 Indian students were evacuated via Poland in 2022.
Further, PM Modi also recalled the assistance Poland offered in the wake of the Gujarat earthquake in 2001.
“Many Indian companies have an active business presence in Poland. And they are engaged in various sectors, from IT to pharmaceuticals to manufacturing, farm vehicles, electronics, steel, metals and chemicals. Nearly 30 Polish companies have a business presence in India. And some of them have manufacturing units. These relate to, for example, hygiene and sanitary products, cosmetics, metal packaging, waste to energy and mining. There are direct flights between India and Poland, which commenced in 2019. And this, in a way, is helping the economic and commercial linkages,” said the MEA Secretary.
Poland has the sixth-largest economy in the European Union and will hold the next Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
PM Modi is set to visit Ukraine from Poland at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky. This visit holds historical significance as it will be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Ukraine, further strengthening India’s diplomatic ties.
Remembering the “Good Maharajas”
The prime minister recalled the Maharaja of Jamnagar’s exemplary role in rescuing several Polish families and young orphans during the Second World War.
Tanmaya Lal highlighted the unique bonds between India and Poland, particularly during the 1940s. He recalled how more than 6,000 Polish women and children found refuge in two princely states in India, Jamnagar and Kolhapur, during World War II.
While Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar who is known in Poland as the ‘Good Maharaja’, gave refuge to over 1,000 Polish children in the famous Balachadi camp, the royal family of Kolhapur provided safe haven to more than 5,000 Polish women and children in the equally-famous Valivade camp.
A monument commemorating Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja was unveiled in October 2014 at the Good Maharaja, Ochota District Square in Warsaw.
Another plaque commemorating the Valivade-Kolhapur camp near the Monte Casino War Memorial was inaugurated in November 2017 in Warsaw.
As many as eight Polish primary and secondary schools are named after Jam Sahib.
During his historic visit, PM Modi is scheduled to visit these memorials commemorating the special episodes of Jamnagar and Kolhapur.
Over the last many decades, many Polish refugees and their descendants have expressed their gratitude to the two royal families of India by building memorials in Warsaw and organising annual events to keep the memories alive.
The Association of Poles in India, which reunites all the Polish people who lived between 1942 and 1948 in the two camps set up by the Maharajas of Jamnagar and Kolhapur, meets once in two years to recall and reiterate their gratitude and affection for the two royal families and the people of India.
Commemorating the historic link, another event, ‘ Remembering the Good Maharajas’, was organised in the Old Orangery of the iconic Royal Lazienki Park in July 2022. For the guests, 22 photographs from the camps of Valivade and Nawanagar depicting the lives of Polish children in India during that period were exhibited.
According to the Indian Embassy in Poland, Poland also has a strong tradition of Indology studies, with Polish scholars having translated Sanskrit into Polish as early as the 19th Century.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to interact with members of the Indian community, select Polish business leaders and prominent Indologists.
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–IANS
