Commonwealth parliaments: a commemorative souvenir

37th commonwealth parlimentary conference

For the third time in about four and a half decades. India has the privilege of hosting the Annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. Earlier in 1957 and again in 1975, we have had the opportunity to successfully host the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.
For India, Membership in this multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi cultural and multi-religious association of sovereign nations the Commonwealth of Nations is strictly in conformity with our age old vision of a global society. After Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister and the architect of modern India, conceived for the Commonwealth a role of a formidable force on the side of peace. For us. more more than anything else, the Commonwealth is an essay in international understanding and cooperation. Our Association with the Common wealth is based on our firm belief that the fate of all nations is inextricably linked we either flourish together or perish together.
Our great saints, philosophers and leaders had envisioned of a society that is in harmony with itself and its environs; of a world that believes in peaceful co-existence. Such a community is ultimately possible not by specific political arrangements or economic alliances alone, but by an understanding of the cultures of the different peoples and by sharing each other's problems and experiences at different levels.
The Commonwealth has the unique distinction of being a grouping of nations from all the continents, tolerating differences, accommodating diversities at critical junctures, acting as one unit without the tag of a 'bloc' with the negative connotations of the word attached to it. It is because of its lasting relevance to all the peoples that this unique grouping survives even as we see other 'blocs collapsing.