New organisation arrives with a bang
It’s heavyweights galore at the maiden event of the newly launched Council of Indian Australians (CIA) .PAWAN LUTHRA reports
If it was meant to display its growing strength, the new organisation Council of Indian Australians’ (CIA) celebration of Australia Day and India’s Republic Day, certainly achieved its objective. At Blacktown’s Bowman Hall, the room was filled with over 500 cheering Indian Australians as they enjoyed an evening of camaraderie, celebrations, and a touch of patriotism interspersed with speeches from diplomats and top politicians.
Local Indian Australian Yadu Singh is not a man known for his modesty. His zeal to move the Indian community forward in NSW is well-known. Also well-known are his views of the existing Indian organisation United Indian Association (UIA) – his criticism of them revolving around issues of transparency and accountability. It was no surprise that the newly founded Council of Indian Australians of which Dr Yadu Singh is President, has as its creed “integrity, accountability and good governance”.
The evening was organised in the backdrop of Queensland floods and the forthcoming State elections. Both were acknowledged during the course of the evening which started about an hour behind schedule as the main guests scrambled to get to the venue on a Friday evening. Entertainment by local artists set the pace of the evening, ably helped along by MC Lucky Singh.
It was a who’s who of State politicians who were present: NSW Premier Kristina Keneally decided to dress Indian for the occasion, looking like a Bollywood actress in her beautiful summery salwar kameez. State Labor members included Peter Primrose, John Robertson, Barbara Perry, Paul Lynch, and Amanda Fazio while from the Federal side of Labor, Michelle Rowland and Laurie Ferguson were present. The Liberal party has represented by the leader of the opposition, Barry O’Farrell, Gladys Berejiklian, David Clarke, Stuart Ayers and Ray Williams. Mayors and councillors from various local councils were also present.
With elections just weeks away, State politicians were keen to be seen by an increasingly large voting block, that of Indians Australians. While State Labor seems to have lost favour with the local public as per the latest polls, the Coalition is looking to romp in. Sensing this, it was interesting to note the Labor party clustered one table and the Liberal party strategically scattered around the five hundred people there.
Other than the celebrations of the day, the speeches by the chief guests were well delivered. Starting off, Dr Singh introduced CIA not only to the dignitaries present but also to the Indian community at large. “As we reach 100,000 in numbers in NSW, let’s acknowledge that we have new people and new problems in our midst. It follows therefore that we need new leadership”.
He went on to detail the work he himself has done to help Indian international students, for which he claimed he did selflessly, seeking no personal gratification in the press or otherwise. “We will put community interests first”.
Michelle Rowland, speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, detailed the growing relationships between India and Australia. Marise Payne representing the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abott, mentioned more personal contacts, such as her in-depth discussions with Indian leader Rahul Gandhi. In her flawlessly delivered speech, Kristina Keneally spoke of the Indian presence in our state, whether in the banking sector in the Sydney CBD, IT in Parramatta, mining in the Illawarra, agriculture in Riverina, in the entertainment scene (AR Rahman at Sydney Festival), or in the arts scene (Parramasala).
Barry O’Farrell picked up cleverly on Yadu Singh’s “new leadership” dig at UIA, and turned it into his own. “Your comment brought a smile to my lips,” he said tongue-in-cheek at the start of his speech, looking squarely at the Premier as she chose that very moment to leave the function. He went on to make an equally strong speech, going back 222 years and claiming Indian links to the start of modern Australia in terms of the made-in-India ships that brought the first settlers here, and the Indians he has met whose ancestors came here 100 years ago. And then he came straight on to electioneering mode. “You come here for better opportunities, but if the systems are not adequate here – transport, roads, hospitals, schools – it will affect those very opportunities”.
If the pollies had intended to reach out to the Indian community at election time, they had all done their homework very well indeed!
Stepan Kerkyasharian, chair of the Community Relations Commission and recently honoured with the AO, congratulated the community for its “coming of age” in the face of the students’ crisis of 2009. “You stood up to help the students here, and also defended Australia in the face of rampant criticism back home. You had a role to play as bridge builders, and you came through with flying colours”.
Consul General of India (Sydney) Amit Dasgupta admitted 2009 is a year he’d like to forget, but claimed 2010 was a good year. 2011, he hoped, will be “fantastic”, thanks to a number of new initiatives, a major one being the cultural centre being set up in Sydney at the Consulate’s new offices. “The formal institution of two Chairs – Tagore Chair at Macquarie University’s IRC and the Rajiv Gandhi Chair at UTS – are equally exciting, and we hope to have a third Nehru Chair at Sydney University soon,” he said, adding, “We are pleased to note that Australia sees the possibility of building long-term relationships in terms of academic work”.
CIA also took the opportunity of honouring a community member Dr. Chandrashekhar Gowda, a medical practitioner with many years of selfless social work both here and in India.
As the formal part of the evening concluded, it was time for giving something back to the people of Australia. A sum of over $7,100 was raised in donations to the Queensland Flood Relief Fund, largely from auctioning two Kapil Dev autographed bats (donated by Ashwani Sharma from the Hindu Council), the winners being Bhart Bhushan from the Bathla Group and Ajay Raj from Maya da dhaba. The dinner, though late, was a filling part of the end of an evening of celebration.
CIA has done well in organising and presenting a function of this magnitude as its maiden public event. The team of Yadu Singh, Stanley D’Cruz, Keyur Desai and Subba Rao Varigonda along with Praful Desai, Mark Sharma, Tony Colaco, Ajay Ghosh, Gautam Raghunath and Shailendra Wadhwa have hit the ground running in their endeavour to serve the local community. It will be interesting to see their future plans unfolding and whether they will be successful in complementing other well wishers of the community in an open, accountable and transparent manner.
For more details on CIA, visit their website www.cia.org.au
