BY TC News Desk
Agartala , 9th Dec: Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha along with Deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma and other eminent personalities including Swami Chittaranjan Maharaj and Dr Madan Maharaj Gosavi inaugurated the 2-day long “Ashtalakshmi Sant Vichar Sammelan” at the Rabindra Satavarshiki Bhavan here in Agartala.
The conference, the first of its kind to be held in the entire north-east is aimed to highlight the spiritual culture of human society and its relevance through a large gathering of saints from different countries besides Indian states.
Addressing at the program, Chief minister Dr Manik Saha said the event was organized not to promote any religious belief or practices, rather aimed at communicating to the people the culture of saints expressed through literature, oral tradition, music, dance, folk art and drama in different regions symbolizing the paradigm of civilization which has now become important for increasing faith in human life.
The chief minister further added, “The conference will further strengthen the ties between all the eight north-eastern states and help in overall development”.
“India is a land of sages and saints who have played important roles in establishing world peace since time immemorial”, he added.
Deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma said, “The eight states of North-east including Sikkim were reffered to as ‘Ashtalakshmi’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visualizing his dream of development in the region and the concept of ‘Ashtalakshmi Sant Vichar Sammelan’ is derived from the line of thinking to strengthen the social interface in diversity”.
He added, “The heartbeat of India lies in the spirituality of India. India is not just a geo-political entity, therefore, to know the nation, we have to know spirituality”.
The scholars of Sant literature from the Northeastern states, Maharashtra and several other regions of India joined the event along with representatives from Russia, Germany, Mongolia, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh to boost the initiative of cultural harmony.
Before the inauguration many saints held a colourful procession from Ujjayanta palace.
