PM Modi In Netherlands | Netherlands Returns 1,000-Year-Old Chola Dynasty Copper Plates To India

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]India Netherlands deepen their ties.

[00:00:01][music] Dutch return the Chola plates.

[00:00:03]India finally gets the Chola Dynasty plates. This has been a special focus of the Modi government to get the Indian [music] heritage and the artifacts which have been taken by by various countries in different parts of the world. [music] We've got a lot of them back and these are Chola Dynasty plates which are being handed back to India.

[00:00:23]This is an important moment because these plates are not just of historical or archaeological importance but clearly they are symbolic of the fact that >> [music] >> the big trust that the Modi government has placed on cultural heritage of India. My colleague Ghazali joining us on the broadcast to give us more perspective. Ghazali, could you give us more perspective about what these plates [music] really are and how are they important? See, these plates have been part of Leiden University in Netherlands and it has been there for the last three centuries, for the last 300 years and they were transferred to the Netherlands while the city of Nagapattinam was under Dutch control which is here in Tamil Nadu and these were these plates were brought to the Netherlands around 1700 CE by Florent Campo who was in India as a Christian missionary when the city of Nagapattinam in present-day Tamil Nadu was under Dutch control. So, this also suggests that how India has been constantly pursuing to recover or to retrieve and get it back to to our country from Netherlands. There was also some legal battle which was involved and Indian Embassy in Netherlands was constantly pursuing it for the last two for the last one decade to get it back.

[00:01:32]So, today it's a big diplomatic victory that also shows that how our relations with Netherlands have improved or has peaked basically because uh this is something these artifacts are very rare and Netherlands agreeing to hand it back over to India through Prime Minister Modi is a big landmark achievement as far as cultural exchange and connect between the two countries are concerned.

[00:01:54]Thank you. Thank you, Ghazali, for putting all of that into perspective for us. Uh some more latest news coming in from that particular visit. As the Prime Minister hails the Netherlands visit, he has met [music] the Dutch King and Queen. Prime Minister goes on to say that India and Netherlands have shared interest. [music] We have shared belief of future-ready planet. I'm quoting what the Prime Minister has put out on X, "Met His Majesty King Willem Alexander [music] and Her Majesty Queen Maxima at the Royal Palace. It was wonderful exchanging perspectives >> [music] >> on boosting India-Netherlands friendship across key sectors like technology, innovation, and sustainability."