CHICAGO: Chicagoans from all walks of life gathered at Holiday Inn in Rolling Meadows were won over by a frank and forthright speech from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi broadcast live here on March 9.
The live speech via satellite by electronic media event at Chicago time 5 p. was part of the nation-wide program orchestrated by the Overseas Friends of BJP- USA. Judging from the attendance, the general reaction of the audience and the dignified way the entire event was organized, the program met with huge success.
The topic of his speech was “Role if Indian Diaspora in the Development of India as Envisioned by Swami Vivekananda”. The event attracted not only people from Gujarat but also from other parts of India and even many well meaning Americans. Modi’s 52 minute speech was in Hindi.
As put by Madhu Patel, founding president of NRI Press Club, “It showed what calibre this leader of India has. There was no rancour or belittling others but all about India as a nation and India as a possible world power. The country would be well off getting him as PM,” he observed. However, he lamented that the organizers should have had Indian and American flags on the podium besides singing American national anthem.
Narendra Modi addressed the gathering at two venues simultaneously (Holiday Inn, Rolling Meadows, IL and TV Asia Auditorium, National Edison Road, NJ) via videoconference. In addition to this, the program was viewed by large number of people across USA and Canada. In India, all leading channels telecast the program Live as large number of people viewed Modi not as Gujarat CM but a likely Indian PM after 2014.
Promoter at NJ was Jayesh Patel, Rakshpal Sood and R. P. Singh while at Chicago it was a group of BJP admirers including Amar Upadhyay, Kanwal Veer, Chandrakant Patel, Jayesh Patel, Kanwal Goyal, Mahesh Mehta (USA coordinator), Prajesh Patel, R.K. Piratla, Nirav Patel and Srinivas Bodige (Conveners).
Narendra Modi, the fourth term Chief Minister of Gujarat, is one of the front ranking Indian leaders known for his decisive and visionary leadership qualities. He has provided all-round development in Gujarat and has received acclaim from national and international community.
The live telecast program started with Prajesh Patel, the Master of Ceremony, welcoming the guests numbering close to 400. After the traditional lamp lighting the audience sang Vande Mataram. Many member of BJP, Chicago businessman and community spoke on Modi’s leadership and progress of Gujarat State.
It was then Narendra Modi’s turn who in his inspiring and rancorless speech, dwelt not only on the development of Gujarat but also touched upon various problems facing the country and the ways to address them.
He gave the Mantra of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ (One India, Excellent India) and added that we must move ahead with this mantra. He observed that “we believe in total secularism but secularism should mean ‘India First’; “Whatever we do, it must be for India. We must never let India, her honor, the dreams of the people adversely impacted by our actions,” he added.
He lauded OFBJP for organizing the Community Outreach Program and commended the members of Indian Diaspora for keeping their strong links with India. “Wherever we stay, our links with our roots, our culture, our tradition must remain…the Bharat Prem and Bharat Bhakti must remain and increase over the years,” he said. He applauded the second generation Indian youth for coming to India and getting involved in community work.
Paying rich tributes to Swami Vivekananda, he said that Swami Vivekananda combined spirituality with Bharat Bhakti. He affirmed that Gujarat is celebrating Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary as Yuva Shakti Varsh with special focus on skill development
Dwelling at length on all-round development of Gujarat State, he pointed out that while the Center allocated only Rs 1000 crore for skill development, a small state like Gujarat allotted Rs 800 crore to strengthen the youth with skills. He talked on tourism and invited members of the Diaspora to visit Gujarat.
Ms. S Patel proposed a Vote of Thanks and appreciated the help from volunteers and sponsors, Holiday Inn, Chicago businessmen and community leaders.
Suresh Shah & Asian MediaÂ
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