Modi to visit Lanka in May to attend Buddhist festival: Report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka in May for a United Nations programme marking a major Buddhist festival, a media report quoted a Sri Lankan minister as saying.
Minister of Justice and Buddha Sasana Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said Modi has confirmed his participation in the first-ever UN Wesak Day celebrations in Sri Lanka, the ColomboPage reported.
UN Day of Wesak is celebrated annually in Buddhist countries. Devotees pay homage to Lord Buddha during the festival celebrated on the Sunday closest to May's full moon.
This is the first time Sri Lanka is hosting the festival and has invited several world leaders for the celebrations on May 12.

More than a thousand representatives from India, China, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia and other countries where Buddhism is practiced are likely to attend, the report said.