Placed prominently on top of the dossier carried by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s aides when he landed in Laos this week was a document you’d never think of — the itinerary of Jawaharlal Nehru when he visited that country on Sunday, October 17 at 11.00 hours in 1954!Vajpayee, in fact, even visited the very same pagoda that Nehru dropped by 48 years ago, Vat Sisaket at Vientiane.It’s much more than just a coincidence. Since Nehru’s whistlestop tour (he spent a total of 2 hrs, 45 minutes in Laos), no other Indian PM has thought it worth her/his while to visit Laos — so by invoking Nehru’s memory, Vajpayee was trying to paper over the neglect.Vajpayee only did better. He spent two full days in the small country which is suddenly poised to become India’s link with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vajpayee’s trip also signifies the realisation that if India has to improve its economic status in the region and fight to improve its economic status in the region and fight the threat of Chinese domination, links with ASEAN will be crucial.But why’s Laos so important? In July, 2003, Laos will become the country coordinator for India in the ASEAN. The 10-member ASEAN consisting of countries like Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos among others, has four dialogue partners — Japan, China Korea and now India. All issues relating to a country have to be discussed with the coordinator before they are put forward to the ASEAN members. Laos is set for an even bigger role of being the ASEAN chairman and the host of the ASEAN Summit in 2004 and no doubt that any nostalgia from the past which helps in bringing the two countries closer could be tried to build bridges with the country.So Vajpayee went to the same pagoda Sisaket when in the Laoatian capital of Vientiane. The brief features of the pagoda, which were part of Nehru’s folder in 1954, also featured in the folder carried for Vajpayee by his aides.The story of the pagoda in the file says that the importance of the structure lies in the fact that there are several Buddha carvings on the walls depicting a multiplication of images which represents ‘‘the Great Miracle of Sravasti.’’The note describes this miracle as follows: ‘‘To convert the heretics who were defying Buddha by their supernatural powers, the still Buddha produced from his body on lotus then two then 10, 100, 1000 which filled the sky and each one was a Buddha.’’Nehru then and Vajpayee now both got similar responses from the Laoatian counterparts, ‘‘Your visit is a source of inspiration for the Buddhists of Laos.’’ With majority of the population being Buddhists among the 5.4 million people in Laos, the Sisaket visit was an important gesture by both PMs.
