On 29 December 2023, Mr. Piyapan Atipatya, Acting Consul-General of Thailand in Kolkata and Mr. Pichaya Lapasthamrong, Consul participated in the international seminar on the theme ‘Tagore and Internationalism’ organised by Rabindra Bharati University in collaboration with Media Platform Bangla Worldwide. The seminar was chaired by Justice Chittatosh Mookerjee, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, while the panel discussion was joined by Vice Chancellor and senior academicians of Rabindra Bharati University, Deputy High Commissioner of the United Kingdom in Kolkata, and Deputy Consul-General of China in Kolkata. More than 80 participants joined the seminar.

Mr. Pichaya Lapasthamrong shared Thailand’s perspective, especially Tagore’s visit to Siam in 1927, which was deeply intertwined with the Royal Visit to India by King Rama V of Siam in 1872. Both visits served as an important foundation of Indo-Thai relations by inspiring Thai people to take interest in India as a role model for national reforms and modernisation, while Indian people were inspired to learn about age-old linkages in Buddhism, language, and culture between the two countries. In order to memorialise these historical ties, the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kolkata and Rabindra Bharati University have jointly inaugurated ‘Thai Gallery’ at Rabindra Bharati Museum in 2022 to display an exhibition on Tagore’s visit to Siam for the modern Indian audience.

Rabindranath Tagore is a well-respected figure by Indian people until the present day. He composed India’s national anthem and became the first Asian to receive Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In his visit to Siam in 1927, Tagore was granted a royal audience with King Rama VII of Siam as well as the Supreme Patriarch, Head of Siamese Buddhist Sangha.