New Delhi: Former Indian High Commissioner to Fiji Padmaja Saturday said that Fiji was an appropriate place to host the 'World Hindi Conference' given the country's historical significance.
The 13th 'Vishwa Hindi Sammelan’ (World Hindi Conference), a joint event of the Ministry of External Affairs and Fiji government, is all set to take place in Fiji from 15-17 February. It will be inaugurated by Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Secretary East in MEA Saurabh Kumar told media persons during a special briefing in New Delhi on Saturday.
Reacting to it, Padmaja, while speaking to ETV Bharat, said Fiji was an appropriate place to host such a conference because it has a sizeable number of Indian-origin people and the common language among them was Hindi. She pointed out that around 150 years ago, 60,000 Indentured Indian labourers (known as Girmitiyas) were shipped by the British to Fiji to work in the sugarcane plantations. The workers were from different states of India speaking different languages and dialects and Hindi served as a common language anchor.
"Most interestingly, it developed into another new dialect which they called 'Fijian Hindi' which is slightly different from the standard Hindi in India. It has been enriched from many years taken from different dialects. Therefore, Fiji is chosen as an appropriate place to host the World Hindi conference because of the sizeable number of Hindi speaking people and Indian-origin people," the ex-high commissioner of India to Fiji said.
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It is pertinent to note that the first ship Leonidas followed other 86 ships that landed 60,965 Girmitiyas in Fiji from 1879 to 1916. Girmit (agreement) in Fiji ended on January 1, 1920, which liberated them from the impediments of slavery. Padmaja said after the Girmit ended, schools and other facilities were established for the labourers. While many Indians came back to their country, several others stayed in Fiji and were accepted with open arms. Since then, Indian-origin people have been residing there.
Ambaja said that Hindi emerged as a language of unity in Fiji and it has been recognized as an official language in the archipelago. Asked about the growing bilateral ties between India and Fiji, the former ambassador said, "Geographically India and Fiji are quite far away but the relationship is very strong. Fiji respects India and vice versa. So far India has enjoyed good ties with Fiji and I am sure under the new Fijian government, the relationship is going to touch new heights."
The MEA secretary said that the Indian government attaches immense importance to Hindi but the language has made limited progress in the UN and that efforts are being made to get Hindi its rightful place. Around 270 people from India will attend the conference and representatives from 50 countries will participate in the event
The decision to host the World Hindi Conference in Fiji was taken during the World Hindi Conference in Mauritius last year. The theme of the event is 'Hindi- Traditional knowledge to Artificial intelligence'. The upcoming session will comprise 10 parallel sessions.
