Guwahati: Two 15-year-old students presented a diplomatic proposal in Bangkok ahead of the 80th anniversary of Thailand-India diplomatic relations.Neeraj Sarmah and Ankit Mandal of St Vivekananda English Academy won the trip after topping the 12th Namaste Thailand Quiz 2026, held in May at Guwahati’s Srimanta Sankardev International Convention Centre.At Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they proposed ‘The Guwahati Declaration’, based on bilateral MoUs signed during PM Narendra Modi’s Bangkok visit on April 3, 2025. It included an artisan residency linking Muga silk weavers in Sualkuchi with Thai silk artisans in Chiang Mai, and the Siam-Brahmaputra Youth League, an annual academic championship connecting the northeast’s seven sister states with Thailand’s provinces.Torsak Janpian, minister counsellor at the MFA, said, “There is a legend in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Myanmar — that an Indian prince travelled across the ocean to the land we call Suvarnabhumi, the golden land. He married a local princess, and a new kingdom emerged. The legend may have truth to it.”“It was an unreal feeling to stand in the Ministry and realise that what we learnt from our elders in Assam is living history in Thailand,” said Neeraj Sarmah.
