Actor Amitabh Bachchan, who has successfully powered the Gujarat Tourism campaign, and the fight against polio for UNICEF, is now batting for Mumbai’s heritage.
Mr. Bachchan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to send Mumbai’s nomination as India’s official entry for the UNESCO World Heritage Site list for 2015. The nomination letter has to be sent by the Centre by March 15 for the U.N. agency to review the dossier.
In a letter dated February 21, Mr. Bachchan said “I am writing to you to bring your attention the need to enhance Mumbai’s nomination for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This nomination dossier for Mumbai’s pitch as a World Heritage Site entitled “Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensemble, Mumbai” needs to be officially endorsed by your government as India’s official entry for UNESCO World Heritage site for the year 2015.”
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Mr. Bachchan also said that “as a loving Mumbaikar”, he has offered his services to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during his recent conclave ‘Mumbai Next’ organised with the NGO Mumbai First.
“I shall be most grateful if this issue could have your compassionate consideration,” Mr. Bachchan said in the letter, which also attached a letter sent in January by Mr. Fadnavis to the PM.
Each year, the deadline for submission of nomination dossiers to UNESCO’s Paris office by India through its permanent representative to the UNESCO is January 31. Mumbai was in contention for the nomination in 2014 too, but the Centre, then under the UPA regime, also sent the Delhi dossier. As India can only nominate one cultural site each year, Delhi was given preference in 2014.
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The Mumbai dossier remained at the UNESCO’s Paris office and should have been the natural contender. But, the Cultural Ministry also despatched a dossier for Nalanda in Bihar before the January 31, 2015 deadline. With Nalanda dossier now in competition, Mumbai could again lose out on the prestigious UNESCO recognition.
That’s where Mr Bachchan’s letter to the Prime Minister, with whom he shares a personal rapport, could play a critical role in tilting the scales in favour of Mumbai.
“There cannot be a better champion for Mumbai’s heritage than Mr. Bachchan. Several of his iconic movies, including the title sequence of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar shot on Marine Drive, showcase Mumbai’s heritage buildings in public memory,” conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah who prepared the Mumbai dossier told The Hindu .