Congressman Tom Suozzi wows Indian Heritage, culture and Indian American community

HICKSVILLE, NY (TIP): 50- year old Association of Indians in America­­­­ organized an impressive Inauguration ceremony for National President Dr. Urmilesh Arya on February 25^th, 2018 at Auntuns by Minar in Hicksville. The AIA has plans to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of AIA under the presidentship of Dr. Arya on October 20, 2018.

Speaking on the occasion, Congressman Tom Suozzi praised Dr. Yashpal Arya and Dr. Urmilesh Arya for their promotion of Indian heritage and culture and their valuable contribution to community. He said he was deeply impressed with the vibrant Indian community. He had a word of appreciation for the rich Indian heritage and culture and advised the gathering that it was “very important that you must maintain heritage and culture and must stand for your rights.  Though it is the tough job, but it can be done with your strenuous work”.

Congressman said he was all set to visit India in the first week of April where he would learn firsthand about India’s heritage and culture and interact with various sections of society. He spoke of the strong bonds of friendship between the “oldest democracy of the world and the largest democracy of the world” and said this friendship needed to be strengthened further.

Dr. Urmilesh Arya said she would do her best to take the 50-year-old representative organization of Indian Americans in the US to greater heights. She said that her vision is to bring all Asian Indian community together and give the torch of AIA to younger generation to maintain our heritage and culture for future generations.

Dr. Arya ended her speech with “Do not expect from your Association, see what you can do for it”.

Earlier, Dr. Narinder Kukar, the senior community leader who is associated with a number of community organizations and was president of AIA a long time ago, introduced Dr. Urmilesh Arya as a person who has always been passionate about preserving Indian heritage and culture even as she championed the cause of the Indian community on political level. He said there could not be a better choice than Dr. Urmilesh Arya to lead the celebrated Association of Indians in America.

The outgoing President Dr. Shashi Shah handed over the gavel to Dr. Urmilesh Arya, signifying passing on the authority to the new president.

The Committee for 2018-2019 was introduced by Elected President Dr Urmilesh Arya.  Here is the list of office bearers. Vice Presidents: Dr. Naresh Bhasin (FL) Nalini Shah (NJ), Ram Khanna (NY) Dr. Sunil Mehra (NY); Treasurer: Mrs. Neelam Modi (NY), Gen, Secretary:  Nilima Madan (NY), Members at Large: Hansa Ashar (CA), Dr. Farita Ahmed (FL), Nishi Mallik (FL), Dr. Shobha Gupta (FL), Mr. Akshay Patel (IL), Ashish Sen (IL), Lucy Pandey (IL), Salil Mishra (IL), Santosh Pandey (IL), Dr. Suresh Gupta (MD), Ravi Mehrotra (NJ), Roopam Jain (NJ), Arish Sahani (NY), Dr. Asha Nayak (NY), Dr. Babu Jasty (NY), Dr. Bal Gilja (NY), Dr. Deepak Nandi (NY), Dr. Himanshu Patel (NY), Indu Jaiswal (NY), Ravi Bhooplapur(NY), Dr. Sai Veeracmachani (NY), Sunil Modi (NY), Sushma Kotahwala (NY), Dr. Usha Bhansal (NY) , Kamlesh Saini (WI), Indu Gajwani (NY).

Bobby Kalotee, on behalf of County Executive Laura Curran, presented citations to the outgoing President Dr. Shashi Shah and the new President Dr. Urmilesh Arya.

AIA presented gifts to Congressman Tom Suozzi.

The Inauguration was attended by around 150 persons.  Prominent among them were Congressman Mr. Tom Souzzi and community leaders Boby Kalotee, Kamlesh Mehta, Narender Kukar, Nirmal Matoo, Prof. Shridhar, Dr. Manwar, Virender Bhalla, Mr. Satnam Parhar, Gobind Munjal, Gunjan Rastogi, Neerja Kashu, Dr. Ajay Jain, Dr.  Ajay Lodha, Dr. Jagdish Gupta, Dr. Vinod Bhansal, and Prof. Indrajit S Saluja, Publisher and Editor of The Indian Panorama.

The program got off to a start with national anthems of the two countries being sung by ­Hema Sardana and Veena Sardana. Invocation by Geeta Sethia, dance by Miss India Riya Kaur, songs by Mohan Wanchoo, with 10-year-old Manav on Tabla, and songs on Karaoke sung by Jyoti Gupta, Indu Gajwani, Roopam Maini and Ratna Bhalla, were star attractions of the celebrations.