President Jagdeo, PPP/C presidential candidate Donald Ramotar and Chairman of the Association of Concerned Guyanese Dr Raj Singh were among the dignitaries particpating in the India Day parade on August 21, at Madison Square, New York.
President Bharrat Jagdeo joined thousands on Sunday, August 21 to participate in a grand India Day parade in New York.
Indian-Americans from the New York area marched in Sunday’s India Day parade with pride — and a gripe: alleged corruption in their homeland’s governing party. “Remove corruption, save India” read signs hoisted by some of the thousands of spectators lining the Madison Avenue route of the biggest Indian parade in the United States.
The grand marshal of the 31st annual celebration was Bollywood star actress Rani Mukherji, with honoured guests including Indian classical singer Pandit Jasraj and President Jagdeo.
Mukherji was mobbed by fans when she arrived for the 10-block parade down Madison, starting at 38th Street. “I feel as if I’m in India today!” she shouted out to the crowd. It is estimated that some 200,000 people of Indian origin living in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut participated in the parade.
Dozens of floats and marching groups reflected India’s cultural and religious diversity. Members of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation were dressed as angels — in white, with wings attached — to proclaim their message of world peace and harmony.
Hundreds of other spectators took a more strident stance — in support of Anna Hazare, an activist on a hunger strike to demand that Indian lawmakers pass a bill creating an anti-corruption watchdog with authority over the judiciary and Prime Minister’s Office.
“We feel India now has one of the most corrupt governments ever,” said Atul Kumar, an official of the Bihar Society in Jersey City, New Jersey, a non-profit organisation representing natives of the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
A float bearing a canon represented another flashpoint in Indian history: violence against the Sikhs, starting with the deaths of 66 Sikhs under 19th century British rule. The official theme of this year’s parade was “My Earth, My Home” — an effort to raise awareness of environmental pollution resulting from India’s burgeoning industries.
“India is getting better at going ‘green’ — with regulations more tightly enforced by the government,” said Kurang Shah, Executive Vice President of the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), a tri-state umbrella group that organised the march.
Last year, Jagdeo was awarded a United Nations’ “Champions of the Earth” award, the world body’s highest honour for environmental leadership. This president of a Caribbean nation with a large ethnic Indian population told the crowd, “India is alive and well in Guyana.” On Monday, August 22, Mukherji joined Bollywood actor Gulshan Grover and other FIA officials to ring the Nasdaq opening bell in Times Square. (Wall Street Journal)
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