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Riva Ganguly Das, a career diplomat who took over as the new Consul General of India in New York last week, was given a rousing reception in both New York and New Jersey as the Indian-American community gathered in large numbers to meet and greet her.
At a reception organized by the Indian Consulate in New York March 12 and another one put together by the Federation of Indian Associations in collaboration with a number of member organizations at the Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords, New Jersey, March 13, leaders of the community warmly welcomed Ganguly Das and promised her complete community support and cooperation in all her work.
At the New York event, a number of senior Indian Foreign Service officials, including Vijay Nambiar, retired Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, and currently the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Myanmar, Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations as well as Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, retired Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, and currently Secretary-General, Independent Commission on Multilateralism, along with his wife Lakshmi Puri, assistant secretary-general for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships at the U.N. were present, were present.
A number of community leaders, including Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Padma Shri award winner and publisher of Desi Talk, H.R. Shah, Chairman of T.V. Asia and Thomas Abraham, founder-president and Chairman Emeritus of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin as well as Dr. Seema Jain, President and CEO of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and Ajay Banga, President and CEO of MasterCard, attended the event as did about 70 other members from the community, some of whom had come from as far as Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
“Hello, Sir. Good to see you here,” Ganguly Das said, addressing Nambiar who stood at the door of the Consulate Ballroom when she entered. Nambiar responded with a broad smile and exchanged some pleasantries with Ganguly Das. While Nambiar was India’s Ambassador to China from 1996 to 2000, Ganguly Das served as Consul General of India in Shanghai from 2008 to 2012. The two have known each other.
“I congratulate her on her new assignment. I think she will bring her personal as well as professional talent for this job. I wish you all the very best as you meet the challenges of the job in the coming months and years,” Nambiar said, and then added in a light vein: “The number of people of Indian origin in Shanghai was certainly less than in New York. So, here she has a much bigger challenge. No doubt about it.”
Almost everybody who addressed the community spoke highly about her, including Akbaruddin, who has known her since she joined the Indian Foreign Service. “We did the training together after joining the IFS. In the past 30 years we have worked twice together before In Delhi. I am glad that she has multilateral experience,” he said referring to her stint as the Alternate Permanent Representative of India to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague, and also as Director at the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Division and participated in environmental negotiations, particularly climate change.
“So, she can help me out (in my job) although I have no experience of handling such a large consulate like New York, and so I cannot help her out,” he said in a light vein. “ But I am sure all of you are out there to provide her assistance in her endeavors because after all, you, in many ways, are all unannounced ambassadors for India in the sense that while we carry the title, you (the members of the community) carry the clout,” he said.
The community members seemed to agree and pledged their full cooperation with the new Consul General.
Parikh, who addressed the gathering both at the consulate and at Royal Albert’s Palace, welcomed her, assuring her of every form of cooperation. “I have seen the evolution of the U.S.-India relation in the past three decades along with the growth and rise of the Indian community. I am confident that the possibility of the growth of U.S.-India relations is limitless. However, as a strong advocate of stronger U.S.-India relations, I feel that we cannot take it for granted that the current spring in the relationship will continue without any hitch,” Parikh said at the consulate.
At the New Jersey dinner reception, which was attended by about 550 members of the community from New York-New Jersey area, Parikh reassured Ganguly Das of his personal cooperation and support. “I would like to assure you of every form of cooperation and support in all my capacities— as a physician, philanthropist and publisher – and I don’t say that only for the sake of alliteration. I really have a dual identity divided into three,” he said.
Ganguly Das in her brief address at the consulate and also later In New Jersey said she was very much overwhelmed by the warm words of support. “I am very confident that I will continue to receive support to execute the task for which I have come here. It is a tough challenge,” she said, but added that she would be able to measure up to that challenge with the support of the community.
FIA Chairman Ramesh Patel told this correspondent that the event at the Royal Albert’s Palace, where FIA invited organizations like the AAPI, AAHOA, FOKANA and representatives from a couple of temples, was a grand success. “The consul general said she felt very much honored at the three-hour-long dinner reception by being able meet with representatives of as many as 24 organizations who gathered under the umbrella of FIA. She was happy that she could see a cross-section of the Indian-Americans at the event,” Patel said.
The Consul General, who spoke briefly, touched upon the issues of Indo-U.S. relations and complimented the community members calling them the ‘real ambassadors of India.’
Andy Bhatia, FIA executive vice-president, described the New Jersey event as historic. “It was a historic event in the sense that for the first time 24 organizations got together to honor the new consul general, something that have never happened before,” Bhatia said. He said many others, who wanted to be part of the event, had to be turned away because there was no room.
Each of the 20 speakers, including Anand Patel, President FIA; Dr. Manoj Mohapatra, Deputy Consul General of India in New York; Prabir Roy, past president, Cultural Association of Bengal; Leela Maret, Federation of Kerala Associations of North America; Laxmi Deveni, President, Telugu Association of North America; Albert Jasani, owner of Royal Albert’s Palace; and H.R. Shah, Chairman of T.V. Asia, spoke for about two minutes each. “Basically, the consul general said that she looks forward to working with the community. Different people presented different problems and she assured all that she will work with the community to address them,” Bhatia said.
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