India’s future is even brighter. This was a loud and clear message conveyed by speakers at a grand reception hosted by Dr Venkatachalam Murugan, India’s highest-ranking diplomat in the Midlands, to mark the country’s 76th Republic Day.
Scores of people from all walks of life reflecting Britain’s kaleidoscopic diversity attended this function held last Sunday (26 Jan) at Birmingham Council House.
The round-table event began with, as per Indian tradition, a lamp lighting ceremony. The sari-clad compere, Anju, announced that the India and UK national anthems would be sung. But due to technical issues, the latter was inadvertently overlooked.
Each of the seven VVIPs, all men, bar Cllr Mal Mutton, Lord Mayor of Coventry, were felicitated with a silk shawl. They were: Derrick Anderson and Simon Foster, West Midlands’ Lord-Lieutenant and Police and Crime Commissioner, respectively, Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Ken Wood, Lord Kuldip Sahota, MP for Derby South Baggy Shanker and the Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Mohammed Alimuzzaman. Derrick, who said, ‘the Indian community has added something special to our communities’, was the only VVIP to speak without a script. The Mayor of the West Midlands was absent as were all Midland MPs of Indian origin.
The programme featured Indian folk, kathak and classical dances by groups from Bollywood Therapy and India Island Academy, a harp performance by Chloe and a vegetarian meal.
One of the UK’s leading health professionals, Professor Kiran Patel, was honoured for his outstanding contribution to the health sector. Professor Patel joined University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Medical Officer and consultant cardiologist, in March last year, after five years as Chief Medical Officer and Deputy CEO at University Hospitals of Coventry & Warwickshire. Prior to that he spent six years as Medical Director for NHS England (West Midlands). In the voluntary sector, he has been chair of trustees to the South Asian Health Foundation charity - which he founded in 1999 – since inception.
Guests included Uganda’s Consul General in the Midlands, Jaffer Kapasi, Cllr Chaman Lal and his wife Vidya, Ninder Johal, Taj Bhatti, Nayaz Qazi from Conservative Friends of India, radio presenter Rajesh Bedi, members of the Yorkshire Sikh Forum, Dr Manoj Joshi MBE from Bradford, Professor Pawan Budhwar and his wife Lakshmi, veteran Indian community leader Harmohinder Singh Bhatia, aka Upashak Ji and his son Gurpreet, Abhishek Tripathi, Sunny Gill, Rajiv Rai, Uday Dholakia, Cllr Udey Singh, Harjot Singh – to list just a few.
