Varanasi: Recalling the enduring friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said Kashi and Kyoto represented the soul of their respective civilisations and had demonstrated that development could go hand in hand with the preservation of heritage.CM Yogi and Akie Abe, wife of late Shinzo Abe, inaugurated the Abe Memorial Corridor at the Rudraksh Convention Centre on Wednesday.Recalling Abe’s visit to Varanasi in 2015, following the signing of the Kashi-Kyoto Partner City Agreement in Kyoto in 2014, to witness the Ganga aarti, Yogi said, “Oct 7 is a special day to take this friendship to new dimensions, as exactly 25 years ago PM Modiji took oath for the first time as Gujarat CM. The foundation of friendship between PM Modi and Abe was also laid during that period. In 2007, Modiji met Abe for the first time during his visit to Japan. Their friendship was not built on position but on trust.”Yogi said the Rudraksh Convention Centre was a symbol of friendship between India and Japan. “Japan gifted Rudraksh to Kashi and today Kashi is preserving it forever in the memory of the former Japan PM. Adding the Abe Memorial Corridor is like creating a living classroom for the new generation. Every young person who comes here will be able to learn how a far-sighted leader can give a new direction to the future of two countries,” he said.“This corridor is not merely a place for preserving the memories of two PMs, but also a living symbol of the unbreakable friendship, trust and shared heritage between India and Japan,” Yogi said, describing the corridor as a humble tribute to Abe San on behalf of the 25 crore people of Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 140 crore Indians.“In 2021, Abe received India’s second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan. In Sept 2022, the PM himself travelled to Tokyo to bid farewell to his friend, while India observed national mourning on Abe’s demise. This was not protocol, it was a relationship,” Yogi added.Referring to lines from Goswami Tulsidas — “Nij dukh giri sam raj kari jana, mitrak dukh raj Meru samana” (one should consider one’s own mountain-like sorrow as dust and a friend’s dust-like sorrow as a mountain) — he said, “In today’s world, when relationships are decided by deals, finding a friend who stands by you without calculating gain or loss is very difficult. India is fortunate to have found such a true friend in Japan. The world builds relationships by looking at interests, while the relations between India and Japan are based on trust.”“Japan has technology and experience, while India has talent and young energy. When the friendship of two leaders becomes the trust of two nations, history changes,” Yogi said, highlighting the outcomes of the Modi-Abe friendship.He said the laying of the foundation for the bullet train in Ahmedabad in 2017 took India into a new era of mobility. “In 2018, Abe had invited PM Modi to his private residence in Yamanashi, giving a personal touch to relations between the two countries. Delhi Metro, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and every major leap in India’s infrastructure have always found Japan standing by India. Today, around 1,400 Japanese companies are operating in India. Now, the India-Japan partnership has extended to future areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, green hydrogen and critical minerals,” he said.In Aug 2024, Governor Kotaro Nagasaki of Yamanashi visited Uttar Pradesh with more than 200 investors, CM Yogi said. “In Feb, I visited Japan and agreements were signed with Japanese companies in Tokyo and Yamanashi for investments worth thousands of crores. I also saw Japan’s precision engineering from close quarters. Yamanashi is now a partner of UP in green hydrogen energy. We are also developing a Japanese City over 500 acres at Noida International Airport and in the YEIDA region. A Yamanashi Desk has been established at Invest UP. Japan has precision, UP has scale — a market of 25 crore people, the country’s youngest workforce and the largest network of expressways and airports,” he said.Yogi said, “In 2027, India and Japan will complete 75 years of diplomatic relations. This corridor is the first offering of that Amrit Parv. India and Japan are countries that have kept their heritage and traditions in their daily lives and work culture. Japanese culture has evolved through thousands of years of rich tradition and has been deeply influenced by Shinto and Buddhist traditions.“Japan is the Land of the Rising Sun, and Uttar Pradesh is the Land of the Sun Dynasty, meaning Lord Ram was born in that Suryavansh, which is why Uttar Pradesh is the Land of the Sun Dynasty. Sarnath, Kushinagar, Kapilvastu, Shravasti, Kaushambi and Sankisa, all the pilgrimage sites associated with the life of Lord Buddha, are in UP. The path of Japan’s faith passes through UP.”Yogi said, “Languages are different, regions are different, but the sentiments are the same and the values are the same. Just three days ago, the Asian Games concluded in Aichi, Nagoya, Japan. The warmth Indian athletes received in Japan inspired our athletes to deliver an excellent performance. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Japan for giving us this sense of belonging.”BOX-I: CM Yogi welcomes Japanese guests in their own languageCM Yogi Adityanath welcomed Akie Abe and the delegation from Japan in the Japanese language, saying, “Sekai de motto mo furai toshi Banaras e yokoso” (I welcome you all to Varanasi, the oldest city in the world), on behalf of the sacred and eternal Kashi, the holy city of Lord Vishwanath, Lord of Lords Mahadev, situated on the sacred banks of Maa Ganga, Sarnath, the land of Lord Buddha’s first sermon, and all the people of this place.
