he Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) celebrated India’s 67th Republic Day with great festivity and patriotism Jan 24 at Ashton Place Banquets in Willowbrook IL.
More than 500 attendees, including dozens of elected officials, community organizations, and artists from the Chicago suburbs gathered to commemorate India’s Republic Day.
Sunil Shah, FIA’s founder president, summed up the positive spirit. “We truly represent the heightened aspirations of Indian-Americans and we are amplifying our efforts to reach out to the 200,000 and growing population of our folks,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Onkar Singh Sangha, founder and past president, welcomed all the guests and sponsors stating, “We feel blessed to see such a tremendous community support.”
The program began with the national anthem of the U.S. by Ashley Singh, followed by the Indian national anthem sung by the FIA team. A recitation of Vande Matram by Nisha Sarswat was followed by the traditional ceremony and dances from Junoon Dance Academy, managed by Sweta Bhagwakar, who performed a welcome dance known as Ganesh Vandana.
Neil Khot, FIA’s executive vice-president, read out a resolution issued by the Mayor of Hoffman Estates, William McLeod, which lauded the accomplishments of FIA. Hitesh Gandhi announced the opening of a new career planning seminar for youths at Poplar Creek Library in Streamwood.
Among the elected officials, who attended the event included Congressional Candidate Raja Krishnamoorthy, State Senator Michael Noland, State Senator Patti Bellock, State Senator Laura Murphy, State Representative Michelle Mussman, State Representative Stephanie Kifowit, State Representative Deb Conroy, Mayor of Villa Park, Deborah Bullwinkel, a representative from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Office, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President, Mariyana Spyropoulos, DuPage County Board Member, Liz Chaplin, DuPage County Board Member, Tony Michelassi, Darien Village President, Kathleen Weaver, and Oak Brook Village President Gopal Lalmalani.
Raja Krishnamoorthy also spoke at the event and declared that his campaign “will mobilize the community to be more politically active and upon his election, he would try to represent every Indian in the U.S. Congress. “If I win, it will be your victory,” he explained.
The entertainment consisted of patriotic songs, dances and comedy. The dance program consisted of more than three dozen dances from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana that portrayed India’s diversity in the Chicagoland community and included a heart-thumping performance from dancers of the Shingari School who completely captivated the audience.
In addition to the dance performances, patriotic songs like mere desh ki dharte sonaa ugle,” “ye desh hai veer jawaano kaa,” “saare jehaan se achchaa Hidustan hamaara,” “aye mere watan ke logon,” were sung by Mahijit Virdi, Sheen Trivedi, Ishan Ahmed, Pratibha Jairath, Nipa Shah, and Mona Bhalla and the comedy/ mimicry of Bollywood stars performed by Pankaj (Paul) Chopra and Mohammad Samdani entertained the audience immensely.
Suhanee Patel, one of the top 10 contestants at the National American Miss Nationals 2015, was also present at the event.
In addition representatives from various community organizations attended the event including Gujarati Samaj of Chicago; GOPIO; Rajasthani Association; PCS; Socrates Ponnusamy, Chicago Tamil Sangam; Kannada Association; Chicago Malayalee Association; Bihar Cultural Association, Gandhi Samaj of Chicago; FIA Chicago; Lohana Samaj, and Chicago Darzi Samaj.
While the attendees expressed their thanks and appreciation for the organizers, Mukesh Shah thanked everybody for making the event successful and memorable and thanked sponsors,including Strike X Lane, Metropolitan Asian Family Services SR International, World’s Money Exchange, Air-India, Power Volt, Medstar, Suga Builders, New York Life, Vinakom, IIA Group, All State, Patel Brothers, Rely Services, Dimple Beauty Salon and Adara Salon.
The post Patriotic Fervor At Republic Day Celebrations In Willowbrook appeared first on News India Times.