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Calling Romas "children of India" External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today pitched for preservation and documentation of the links of the now 20 million strong migrant community spread over 30 countries with India.
"I am very happy to meet the Roma delegates. You are the children of India who migrated and lived in challenging circumstances in foreign lands for centuries. Yet you maintained your Indian identity," Swaraj said after opening International Roma Conference and Cultural Festival here.
Organised by ICCR - the cultural wing of External Affairs Ministry and Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad-Bharat (ARSP), the three-day conference aimed at revisiting and reviving what is considered as a "lost page of Indian history" is hosting 33 scholars and 12 cultural performers from 12 countries and 15 scholars from India.
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The Romas, said to be descendants of nomadic groups who migrated from India to the West in the 5th century, count among themselves famous personalties such as comedian Charlie Chaplin, artist Pablo Picasso and rock-and-roll king Elvis Presley.
Said to trace their ancestry to groups in India like Dom, Banjara, Gujjar, Sansi, Chauhan, Sikligar, Dhangar etc. And other nomadic tribes from North West India, the Romas are traditionally believed to have been ironsmiths.
Some scholars claim that the first wave of migration took place when emperor Alexander took blacksmiths from India to make weapons.
They are called differently in different countries -- Zigeuner in Germany, Tsyiganes or Manus in France, Tatara in Sweden, Gitano in Spain, Tshingan in Turkey and Greece, Tsigan in Russia, Bulgaria and Romania and as gypsies in Britain.
In order to overturn negative perceptions about itself in Europe and other parts of the world the community wants India to accept it as diaspora and as linguistic and cultural minority.
"Romas are the indigenous people of India, there are many scholars and researchers who trace the orgins of Rromanis to India. We use same Indian words and we come from the great India. We want India to accept Romas as its diaspora and give us nationality," Jovan Damjanovic, president, World Roma Organisation- Rromanipen.
Damjanovic who has come from Serbia said accepting origins of the about 15 million Rromani people can help India give a boost at all levels be it political, economic or cultural.
Commending the Roma population's unique ability to adapt to foreign cultures, Swaraj termed them the "first flag bearers of Indian culture overseas," and an example of peaceful co-existence in challenging foreign conditions.
"We, in India, are proud of you. Your 'Baro Than' India once again welcomes you with an open heart," she said.
Swaraj pointed out that the Romas were present in good
numbers in the countries where the community migrated.
For instance, in Eastern European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, the Roma community constitutes 12 per cent of the population. Other European countries having large number of Roma population include Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Spain and France.
Their population is about 2.75 million in Turkey. Though majority are based in Europe, Roma community is present in almost all the continents, including around one million in the US and approximately 8,00,000 Roma in Brazil.
Congratulating scholars who have "re-written the forgotten history of Roma community and its links with India," Swaraj said the efforts need to be further augmented with continued efforts and in-depth research.
"Precious heritage of Roma community and its relations with India needs to be carefully preserved and documented. The research needs to be enhanced with renewed vigour," she said.
Lokesh Chandra, President, ICCR in his keynote address referred to persecution of the Romas across centuries.
"In 1701-50 Germany passed 68 edits to persecute them. In 1715-19 Scottish Roma were transported to America, 5000 Roma were deported to Nazi camps, Turkey home to world's largest Roma population passed a law in 1934 that allows government to deny them citizenship," Chandra said.
The scholar also mentioned incidents in January such as Italian football bosses calling Mario Mandzukic as a "shitty gypsy" and UK based Indian-origin man Amreet Surana being deported from US due to his skin colour.
He added that like the Silk Route, a Steel Route must have linked India and Greece via Iranian lands. "The Roma seems to have trod Steel Route as itinerant ironsmiths in continuation of age-old traditions," he said.
Swaraj said the aim of the conference is in consonance with 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (world is one family).
"India is not a mercantile nation, pursuing only material objectives but a civilisation of values, vision and promoting harmony. We have a natural affinity and concern for the people of Indian origin and their well-being," she said.
Swaraj said deliberations of the conference would provide useful pointers towards developing educational and scientific structures, and help in finding solutions for challenges being faced by the Roma community across the world.
The first Roma conference was held in 1976 in Chandigarh, and in 1983 the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated the International Roma Cultural Festival. In 2001 former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee interacted with Roma scholars and delegates at a Roma conference.
