Top-level tributes paid to enduring symbol of Sino-Indian friendship
The internationalist spirit of Dwarkanath Kotnis is alive and inspiring many Indians.
S. D. Shinde, principal of North Court High School in Solapur, western India, where Kotnis studied, said, “Every year on the anniversaries of his birth and death, we organize a memorial lecture and various events to commemorate Dr Kotnis.”
Kotnis arrived in China in 1938 with four other physicians M. Atal, B.K. Basu, M. Cholkar and D. Mukherji, as members of the Indian Medical Mission Team helping China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).
The Indian medic, who saved the lives of numerous Chinese soldiers, died unexpectedly in China on Dec 8, 1942.
“We pay homage to ensure the younger generation remembers him,” Shinde said.
In 2012, the former residence of Kotnis and his parents, a traditional Maharashtrian house in Bhaiyachowk, Solapur, was converted by the Solapur Municipal Corporation into a museum housing his memorabilia, photographs and letters.
Shrikanchana Yannam, mayor of Solapur, said: “There are manicured lawns and two grand statues of Kotnis in front of the Kotnis Memorial Museum, spreading over an acre (0.40 hectares) of land. An amphitheater and a Mandarin learning center form part of the museum premises.”
The museum is visited every year by hundreds of students from schools in Maharashtra state.
When the museum first opened, Ganesh Channa, a professor from Sangameshwer College in Solapur, launched a website in memory of Kotnis.
“I worked to collect whatever information was available at the museum and from other sources, and uploaded it to the website,” Channa said.
Moreover, in 1976, a railway medical facility in Solapur was named Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis Memorial Hospital. The hospital now has 89 beds and 14 doctors, and there are plans to modernize it as a super specialty healthcare center.
Inspired by Kotnis, Inderjit Singh established the Dr D. N. Kotnis Health & Education Center in Ludhiana, Punjab, in 1975. Singh said many Indian doctors want to evoke the spirit of Sino-Indian relations by paying tribute to Kotnis on the anniversaries of his birth and death.
Rajendra Jadhav, chairman of the Dr Kotnis Memorial Committee in Mumbai, said, “Dr Kotnis wasn’t just a dedicated, passionate and competent doctor, he was also an exemplary internationalist.”
Generations of Chinese leaders, from late Chairman Mao Zedong, have paid tribute to the internationalist spirit of Kotnis. Late Premier Zhou Enlai visited the doctor’s family in June 1954, and in 1996, President Jiang Zemin sent flowers to Kotnis’ close relatives. In 2006, President Hu Jintao met Kotnis’ two sisters.
Before she died in 2015, Kotnis’ nonagenarian sister Manorama spoke of her meeting with Premier Li Keqiang. “It was a most pleasant meeting. The premier said my brother was a symbol of Indo-China friendship. This word, symbol, encapsulates the entire range of emotions about Dr Kotnis.”
When President Xi Jinping visited India in 2014, he conferred the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Friendship Award on Manoroma and on the Dr Kotnis Memorial Committee represented by Rajendra Jadhav, among others.
Last year, Nirmala Kotnis, a thirdgeneration member of the Kotnis family, and Shalmali Borkar, granddaughter of the doctor’s elder brother, suggested starting scholarships for medical students in the doctor’s name.
Jadhav said, “My only wish is that the governments of the two countries will come closer and support this project to spread the message that humanity cannot be restricted by physical borders.”
Mohammed Saqib, secretary-general of the India-China Economic and Cultural Council, a not-for-profit organization based in New Delhi, said it is time the spirit of Kotnis was invoked, especially in the view of last year’s border incident which affected bilateral people-to-people exchanges.
“The values that Dr Kotnis symbolized will go a long way in defusing the prevailing tension,” Saqib said, adding that Kotnis had joined China in its fight against imperialism, and in today’s context, he was actually fighting against superpower hegemony.
“India and China are among the oldest civilizations. Deeper cooperation between the two countries will bring prosperity and peace to the world at large,” Saqib said.
“I am sure there are many people like Kotnis in India and China, and they are willing to devote their lives to fostering friendship between two great civilizations.”