India to Host Meet on Romas in Croatia

India’s Indian Council for Cultural Relations(ICCR) will be doing a conference on Roma people in Croatia in April of 2022. The conference will be about the linkage of Roma people with India.

Romas are an ethnic group, an Indian origin minority found in large parts of the world, including Europe and the Americas. They are traditionally nomadic people who are descendants of people who came from Northern India in the 5th century BC.

Director General ICCR Dinesh K. Patnaik said, “We are doing a conference on Romas…they have strong links with India – genetics, culture, language. They are in a large part of the world. We are doing the first-ever conference on Romas in Croatia in the month of April and bringing together everybody”.

In Europe, there are around 30 million Romas. Romas are known by different names in different countries, such as ‘Zigeuner’ in Germany, ‘Tsyiganes’ or ‘Manus’ in France, ‘Tatara’ in Sweden, ‘Gitano’ in Spain, and ‘Tshingan’ in Turkey and Greece.

Interestingly, April 8 is observed as International Romani Day dedicated to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues faced by them.

Romas are also referred as Romani people. They have faced persecution and discrimination in large parts of Europe including sterilisation. The Roma community has given the world distinguished painters like Pablo Picasso, famous comedian Sir Charlie Chaplin, singer-performer Elvis Presley, twice Oscar-winner Sir Michael Cain among others.

In the past, the Indian government has taken interest in highlighting links with Romas. In 2016, MEA had organized a conference regarding the Roma community. A total of 14 International speakers and 14 Indian scholars participated in the conference whose aim was to re-establish cultural and linguistic links with the Roma community.

Former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee during a 2001 event meet on Roma had said, “The belief that the Romani people once upon a time belonged to northern India and continued to show various similarities in their customs and manners with the cultural heritage of India and its people offers scope for a very interesting study in human development and migration of people from one part of the world to another.”

Romas have been keen to get Indian diaspora status and even PIO cards. It is still under evaluation by the Indian government. Other than the Roma conference, ICCR also plans to open a cultural centre in Saudi Arabia and plans to give special certificates to Indian restaurants with the largest footfall of locals.

Source: Wion