Australia India Day Function Council initiates its maiden event

Where there is a will there is a way. It was an occasion when a group of people who were ideologically opposed to United India Associations came together to make a forum and had their maiden function which celebrated Australia Day and Indian Republic Day at the Ryde Civic Centre.

They also managed to assemble a guest list of around 500 people which included star politicians like Joe Hockey and Maxine Mckew along with other state politicians. The event also had 2 tables taken by Labour Party and a table taken by Liberal Party. The public liability insurance costs for the function centre were borne by Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan and facilitated by its President, Gambhir Watts. The event started with playing of National Anthems of both countries and also had dance performances by Varun Tewari and Kamaldeep Kaur among others. Shalini Patel’s Ghunguru Group provided live entertainment for the guests.

The scene for the evening was set by David Clarke who was representing State Opposition Leader, Barry O’Farrell. He talked about destiny of India and how India had made a significant contribution to the world.  Said David, “I pay tribute to the 22 Indian Australian organizations who organized this event and the work they do with the wider Australian community as well. God bless Mother India! Indians are vital and integral part of fabric of Australia.” Playing to the mood of the audience he added, “I am a father of four and my son aged 21 years is studying away from home. If my children go to India for studies I would look upon the Indian moms and dads to treat my son as their own son and I would expect Australians to do the same for Indian students and look upon them as if they were their own sons and daughters.” He got a standing ovation from sections of the audience and that fired other politicians to speak out articulately and they did not disappoint.

Barbara Perry represented Premier Kristina Keneally and said, “What a great state we live in. We are free to practice whatever religion we belong to and this is the greatness of Australia. You are united, you are intelligent and you have made immense contribution to Australia. We welcome Indian students and open our arms and embrace them and share affinity with them and we support them. NSW government has enshrined the principles of multiculturalism and Indian students can live with respect and harmony in NSW.”

Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey said, “Liberal party has taken 1 table and Labour party has taken 2 tables. We have taken tables in order to win the support of Indian community. We are here to support the Indian community. We are here to stand shoulder to shoulder, side by side with Australian Indians because we have shared values and we collectively believe in freedom and democracy, enterprise and hard work.”

“I take tribute to India which is now No 1 Test cricket nation in India. Now is the time when we renew and refresh our values. It is our responsibility to enhance the growth of India and as a Liberal we believe in exporting Uranium to India and meeting the growth needs of India. Australia has a responsibility to help India grow. As an Australian who believes in Australia being a republic nation, I wish we were celebrating the Republic day of both countries. I stand shoulder to shoulder with you and your leaders,” remarked Joe Hockey.

Maxine McKew, MP for Bennelong and representing PM Kevin Rudd highlighted India’s democratic tradition and how India continued to amaze her. “Most of our catholic priests came from Ireland but now India is exporting catholic priests to Australia. I attended a function at a church in North Epping in the morning and had a chance to witness one such change. The huge audience that attended AR Rahman concert in Parramatta is an affirmation that the friendship between India and Australia can’t be fractured by moronic elements. The victory of Jai Ho will be enduring and violence will not be tolerated,” she said. She highlighted Prime Minister’s message sent to the organizers on this occasion which started with the words Chak De India and said this showed Australia was serious in its friendship with India.

Indian Consul General Amit Dasgupta said, “This is a critical juncture in Indian Australian relationship. As regards to attacks on Indian students, NSW and SA has an excellent track record. Since the first attack on May 23, 2009 I have only made friends here. At any stage any Indian who lives in NSW or SA should not be involved in any activity that harms the student community. He repeated his pledge to attend only those Indian functions where organizers would confirm that they have sought or obtained a clearance certificate from the caterers that they pay Australian minimum wages to their workers.” He also used the occasion to highlight the attacks on Indian students. Without naming the state of Victoria he said, “As per the last statistics there were 1447 attacks on Indians in one state in 2008 as compared to 13 in 2007. This statistic would be much higher in 2009 for that particular state.”

Dr Yadu Singh, President, Australia India Day Function Council [AIDFC]  listed the goals of the council and said the group wanted to act as a catalyst for proving effective leadership to the Indian community. He also spoke about the Benevolent Fund and said all surpluses from this event would go to this fund. He also thanked Harry Singh, Gurtej Thind, Rahul Jethi, Jitendra Verma, Anurag Kulshrestha, Gautam Sharma, Aksheya Kumar, Harish Velji, Shubha Kumar, Subba Rao Varigonda, Saryu Rao, Nihal Agar, Dipankar Chaudhury, Thiru Arumugam and other volunteers for the hard work they had put in for organizing this event.

Politicians seemed to savour the moment as well, as they were trying their best to cope up with requests for pictures. Maxine McKew, MP for Bennelong and representing PM Kevin Rudd, went across to all the tables and interacted with all guests. Parramatta Police Area Commander Robert Redfern was also in attendance as well as other guests like Chief of VETAB, Margaret Willis.  Anuj Kulshreshtha, Treasurer of Australia India day function, said, “We had a great turnout which has exceeded our expectations. We as a team put in a lot of effort since the past month and this is a result of our hard work.”

Click the below link for more pictures of the event.

http://rohitrevo.com.au/wp/gallery/

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