Photo : ANI
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto graced the 76th Republic Day celebrations at Kartvaya Path on Sunday. Before the Jan 26 event, President Droupadi Murmu hosted a banquet in his honour where her Indonesian counterpart shared his views on India-Indonesia relations. A light moment of laughter was witnessed during his speech when he said that he recently got done the sequencing of his DNA and found he has “Indian DNA”.
“…A few weeks ago I had my genetic sequencing test and my DNA test and they told me that I have Indian DNA,” Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto said while talking about the country’s connections to India. The joke left everyone at the table in splits with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, sitting beside Subianto, enjoying the pun-intended part of the speech.
#WATCH | Delhi | “…A few weeks ago I had my genetic sequencing test and my DNA test and they told me that I have Indian DNA. Everybody knows when I hear Indian music, I start dancing…”, says Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto at the banquet hosted by President Droupadi… pic.twitter.com/N7f0EpLamZ
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2025
“Everybody knows when I hear Indian music, I start dancing…” Subianto further said, while expressing his love for Indian music.
He added that both countries have a long, ancient history together. “We have civilizational links, even now a very important part of our language comes from Sanskrit. Many names of Indonesia are actually Sanskrit names and in our daily life, the influence of ancient Indian civilization is very strong. I think it’s also part of our genetics…” the Indonesian President added.
Subianto became the second Head of the Government of Indonesia to have attended the event, the first being Sukarno, Indonesia’s first President who was part of India’s first Republic Day celebration on Jan 26, 1950.
Subianto, who is on his first state visit to India, said he is proud to be in India and wished “prosperity, peace, and greatness” for the people of India in the coming years.
