kumar, not sure what you are saying. I have my own shoes. Are you saying you want to give me yours? I don't think I need it. Sugandhi Ravindranathan agrees with me.
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Spain showers accolades on Indian democracy
Sugandhi Ravindranathan
“No other country has such immense diversity of 400 languages, 10 religions”
President Pratibha Patil with Spanish Senate President Javier Rojo (left) and House of Congress president Jose Bono at the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid on Tuesday.
MADRID: Laudatory references to the Indian democracy and its pluralism echoed in the sumptuous Hall of Lost Steps at the Spanish House of Congress here on Tuesday.
Jose Bono, President of the Congress, in his address to a packed house, said no other country on earth had such immense diversity of 400 languages and 10 religions. “National identities are variable and we all have a huge part in collective identities,” he said. “Co-operation is not based on the colour of the skin and no borders or flags make us unequal.”
He went on to say how impressed Spain was about Indian democracy involving 714 million voters and joked that “three of your major cities — Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata — can accommodate our entire population.”
On a more sombre note, he addressed the problem of terrorism that has been the bane of both countries. “We have wept together,” he said, and made a particular reference to 26/11. “Fortunately, humanity is interconnected,” he said, and criticised those “who look the other way” when a country was convulsed by terror hits.
He envisaged sharing of projects and co-operation between India and Spain in many spheres, including culture as evinced by the setting up of the Institute of Cervantes in New Delhi.
In her reply, President Pratibha Patil expressed pride in the ongoing electoral process and the measures India was taking in ensuring orderliness and accuracy in such a mammoth undertaking. Pointing out that India’s democratic system has 3.2 million elected representatives — of whom 1.2 million are women — to institutions of local self-government in villages and municipalities, she said it was unparalleled on earth.
Describing Spain as a beautiful country with friendly people, she said her visit was emblematic of the shape of more cooperation to come.
She signed off her address in Spanish, which elicited a prolonged and thunderous ovation. Earlier Ms. Patil was accorded a guard of honour with a 21-gun salute.
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