The Indian embassy yesterday launched a Thai translation of the Indian constitution.
Yesterday was specifically chosen to commemorate the 1930 Salt March, an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi, to resist Britain's Salt Act during the British Raj.
The Indian government also said it wanted to celebrate "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" to mark the country's freedom from colonisation under the "Indian 75th" theme -- Aug 15, 2022 will be the 75th anniversary of Indian independence.
About 120 guests attended yesterday's launch, including National Assembly president Chuan Leekpai, Constitutional Court judges, the Thai translators of the Indian constitution and the Indian Studies Centre of Chulalongkorn University director Surat Horachaikul.
Mr Surat, who had been assigned to be the lead translator of the project, said copies would be distributed to the Thai parliament and educational institutions.
He said the project first emerged during a visit by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha during a visit to India to meet Indian PM Narendra Modi in 2016.
"It is a project to commemorate the contribution of Dr BR Ambedkar, who was a pioneer of the Indian constitution," he said. "If he were alive today he would be around 125 years old."
Apart from tying the two countries together more closely, Mr Surat said the Thai version of the Indian constitution, which took him nearly four years to finish, would help Thai people understand more about Indian people.
