India will gift a sapling of the sacred Maha Bodhi tree from Bodh Gaya to Vietnam when President Pranab Mukherjee visits the strategically-important country next month.
Displaying another facet of its soft power, India is also pushing for having Indian films and TV serials on Vietnamese television.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is here on a visit, informed Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and her counterpart Pham Binh Minh, also Deputy Prime Minister, that since Buddhist links are a major factor in bilateral ties, the President would gift a sapling of the Maha Bodhi tree.
"The sapling is being given as a symbol of our linkages in terms of Budhism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
Mukherjee is set to travel to Vietnam in mid September.
India had last year given a similar sapling to Thailand.
Under the Bodhi Tree at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment 2,600 years ago and became the Lord Buddha.
Buddhists revere the holy Bodhi Tree and even the leaves are worshiped by them.
Though Vietnam is a Communist country and has no official religion, many practice Buddhism. Many Vietnamese travel to Bodh Gaya in Bihar every year.
During her meeting, Swaraj also informed that India intends to open a cultural centre in Hanoi and she invited the Vietnamese to also have a cultural centre in India.
"Traditionally, Indians have great respect for Vietnam as Vietnamese did have an understanding of India and its culture. As generation changes, we need to adapt our outreach and have greater cultural linkages," Akbaruddin said.
He said that Swaraj, in this context, also talked about the possibility of having Indian films and TV serials, on Vietnamese television and commercially availability of Indian films.
Many Vietnamese watch Bollywood films on YouTube.
