1.9.2019/ Dadar
On a visit to Silvassa, the capital city of Dadra &
Nagar Haveli, an Indian Union Territory, Home Minister Amit Shah allowed
himself to meet the residents there. Among the mélange of cultures of Gujarati,
Marathi and Hindi speaking people, the migrants of Mithila, who are well-settled
and are in good number in the territory, greeted the minister with Mithila
Paag, the cultural symbol of the Mithila region. It was the first-ever Shah’s
visit after he was administered oath of office and secrecy as the Home Minister
of the Republic of India, the world’s largest democracy.
Remarkably, it was Narendra Modi, the Honourable Prime
Minister who had issued and released Mithila Paag for the first time in 2017
during his first term as Prime Minister in recognition of the cultural values
of the headgear after historic ‘Save the Paag Campaign’ was launched in 2016
wherein a large number of Maithils took to streets to press the demand for
their cultural identity under the banner of social pressure outfit Mithilalok
Foundation, working for socio-economic and cultural development for Mithila.
“It is a matter of great pride that Maithil, irrespective of
their locations and divergent opinions, make consolidated effort to safeguard
their cultures and social values. Mithila, a philosophy in itself has a lot to
offer for the sake of mankind. One needs to know the heritage of the land of
Goddess Sita where she came into being in the Treta epoch “said Dr Birbal Jha,
Chairman of Mithilalok Foundation.