Oxford Indians praise President’s speech

OXFORD: Aadya Shukla, President of the Oxford Indian Society, in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa has praised his speech to the Oxford Union on May 13.

“I pray that under your vision and leadership, the relationship between India and Sri Lanka will grow stronger. It does not happen everyday that I get a chance to hear the first-hand views of the maker of a nation,” Shukla wrote.

The letter: ”It was a rare honour to meet you in person at the Oxford Union. I admire the fact that you feel so passionately for your country and changing the lives of your fellow citizens. Sir, you inspire us, the young generation that our lives should not be squandered in personal merriment and self-promotion. May I thank you for answering my question in detail.

What I liked the most about your speech, was the fact that you talked about sustainable development and paying attention to strengthening the rural economy, as energy and food are two of the key questions.

Policy makers should not forget that in the race of making their nations industrialised or turning their countries into service industries.

Another key point was that you mentioned the distribution of the wealth across all sections of the society, very important indeed, as discontent leads to social disharmony and problems. We need sustainable societies.

I am very happy that you have fond memories of India, especially Dehradoon. My brother Dr. Dev Ratna Shukla is currently posted in Dehradoon, as the National Head of the Information Ministry of Government of India in his role as Head for Rural and land Records Reforms through Electronic Governance.

I wish the very best to the people of Sri Lanka. May your country prosper and be an example to the rest of the world as a nation. I also hope that increasing pilgrimage to the Ramayana sites will allow people of our nations to have a closer cultural ties. I look forward to visiting your beautiful land some day.”