On the occasion of the 75th National Day of Vietnam (September 2), the Indo-Vietnam Solidarity Committee laid flowers at the President Ho Chi Minh Monument in Kolkata city, the capital of West Bengal State in India.
At the flower-laying ceremony (Photo: VOV)
The monument of President Ho Chi Minh is located in ITC Square, on the intersection between Ho Chi Minh Avenue and Jawaharlal Nehru Avenue in Kolkata city.
The ceremony is an opportunity for Indian friends to congratulate Vietnam on its 75th National Day and wish India and Vietnam further development in their friendship.
Kolkata, earlier Calcutta, is a place President Ho Chi Minh visited many times. When he worked on La Touche de Tréville merchant ship to go abroad to find a way to save the country, he landed at Calcutta port. In 1946, on the way to France as President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, President Ho Chi Minh also stopped at Calcutta and met with members in the Indian Communist Party.
In 1990, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birthday, according to the agreement of the Vietnamese and Indian Governments, the authorities of West Bengal State decided to build a bronze statue of President Ho Chi Minh in the central park of the city.
Many people in Kolkata are proud of their 'firsts': The first city in the world to have protests in favor of Vietnam, the first city to have Ho Chi Minh Avenue, and the first place in the world to build a bronze statue of President Ho Chi Minh./.
Compiled by BTA