In a unique honour, Belgium on Saturday conferred the Order of Leopold, the country's second highest civilian award, on Sonia Gandhi [Images], Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson, for her "constructive nationalism" and her efforts to foster a multicultural, tolerant society in India.

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt presented the decoration 'Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold' on Sonia in the presence of a galaxy of leaders including Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, Viscount E Davignon, Indian Council for Cultural Relations Chairman Dr Karan Singh, ICCR Director General Pawan Varma and India's Tourism Minister Ambika Soni. 

Previous recipients of the Order of Leopold include Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito and former US president Dwight Eisenhower.

At the same venue, Bozar, where a four-month long festival of India is being held, the Brussels University conferred a honarary doctorate on Sonia.

Prof Bvan Camp, rector of the university, conferred the doctorate on Sonia for distinguishing herself in her areas of work and contributing significantly to society.

Previous recipients of the university doctrate include Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa [Images], Lord Yehudi Menuhin, world famous composer, Brezed Cullar former UN secretary general, Dr Willy Brandt, former chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany [Images] and Sir Peter Ustinov, ambassador of UNICEF.

King Albert II hosted a lunch on Saturday afternoon in honour of Sonia in which members of the royal family including Prince Philippe, Princes Mathilde, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht were present at the Royal Laeken Castle in Brussels.

Official sources said the luncheon by the king in honour of Sonia assumes significance in view of the fact that the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf [Images], who had visited earlier in September, failed to get an audience with him.

Responding to the honour conferred on her, Sonia said, "I do believe that by conferring this distinction you are recognising not the individual that I am, but the values that I have imbibed and stand for."

She said that she was but 18 when she met her husband Rajiv Gandhi [Images] and not long after that she married and moved to India.

"I am reminded of what my mother-in-law Indira Gandhi [Images] used to say, 'One's real education is in the university of life'," she said.

"What I am today is largely because of being a member of the remarkable family into which I married, and because of the love I've received throughout from the people who have accepted me as one of their own," Sonia said.

Referring to the 'Festival of India' that has come to Europe after a decade and half, the UPA chairperson said she was delighted that it was being held in the magnificent premises of the Palais de Beaux Art.

Noting that the choice of Brussels for the festival is a considered one, Sonia said, "Your beautiful city has become in many ways the capital of the European Union. It is the seat of the European Parliament and the European Commission. It has a great sense of culture and history."

She said the exhibition inaugurated on Saturday was part of the Festival of India and was unique.

"This is the first time that so many rare priceless sculptures have been taken abroad from among the treasures housed in museums all across India," she said. 

Tejas, the name given to the collections, is a Sanskrit term that implies "effulgence, radiance, energy". It symbolises the enduring dynamics and creativity of Indian culture.

"Tejas profiles India's civilisational journey over 1,500 years of a most formative period of its past," she said.

"Going back in unbroken continuity to the dawn of history, our history is an inclusive one," Sonia said.

Over the centuries it has absorbed influences, faiths, ideas and people without compromising its essential integrity and strength, she said.

"Today our nation is a land of diversity and variety on a constitutional scale," she quoted India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru vividly describing India as "an ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thoughts and reverie had been inscribed and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what has been written previously."

"Though outwardly there was diversity and infinite variety among our people. Everywhere there was that tremendous impress of oneness, which has held all of us together for ages past, whatever the political fate or misfortune had befallen
us," Sonia quoted Nehru as saying. 

"We are proud that our culture reflects this. We happen to be the birthplace of four of the world's major religions and home to the second largest population of another faith, Islam," Sonia said.

Noting that India was no stranger to Europe, Sonia said the formidable scholarship of Indologists in various countries of this continent has not only made the world aware of India in its various manifestations, but also made Indians themselves aware of their own history and heritage.

"Being inheritors to a historic heritage is both empowering and humbling. It is empowering because of the remarkably old roots of our nation's composite character. It is humbling because of the enormous responsibility it places on us to preserve it and make it accessible to others," she added.

She said in the modern world there is much that India and Belgium share in common. "Democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, independent judiciary, a free press and protection of human rights are fundamental values to which our two
societies are wedded," Sonia said.

"In the area of economy and trade, our two countries have been expanding and deeping their partnerships. Belgium is the second largest trading party for India with the EU. Our bilateral trade crossed 8 billion euros in 2005, much of it contributed by the diamond trade. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in India because of its economic and technological achievments and because of the contribution of its diaspora. But the India that is on display here is a different one," she said.

"It is an India rich in its philosophical thought, multiple faiths and beliefs. It is an India that once 2,000 years ago had proclaimed vasudeva kutumbakam -- the world is one family," she added.