Hundreds mourn Sushma Swaraj’s death, welcome scrapping of Article 370

GEETHA PATIL
NORTHBOROUGH, Massachusetts: Hundreds of members from various organizations assembled at Amrit Sabha, Northborough, Massachusetts August 8 to pay tributes to BJP leader and former Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who passed away August 6, and to recognize and express their gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team for historic achievement of one nation, one flag, and one Constitution.

The program started with a Shanti Mantra by the priest of Shri Radha Krishna Mandir, Pandit Jagadeesh, followed by the singing of national anthems of Indian and the US. Sabha members paid their tributes to Sushma Swaraj Ji who passed away after suffering a massive heart attack by observing one minute silence.

Floral tributes were paid to a portrait of Sushma Swaraj Ji. This was followed by brief speeches by the panel members. They remembered and shared very fondly their past interactions, involvements, and thoughts about her strong personality, style of oratory, and kind public services. Some recalled the exemplary role she played as Minister of External Affairs.

Dr Abhaya Asthana, president of World Hindu Council of America, Dr. Suresh Jain, president of the Boston Chapter of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Kanchan Banerjee, president of the Global Initiative for Bharat Vikas, Pramit Maakoday, social activist, AND Suresh Sharma, President of Milan-USA spoke about Sushma Swaraj.

In the second part of the program, Sanjeev Tripathi read a poem about the scraping of Articles 370 and 35A that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir as an introductory note to this session. Sanjay Kaul, past president of Kashmiri Overseas Association, Dr. Abhaya Asthana, Anupama Wali, past president of India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB) and who served as national secretary of Kashmiri Overseas Association, Lalit Kaul, president of Indo-American Kashmiri Forum and who served on the board of directors of Kashmiri Overseas Association, Dhanashree, CEO of Hindu Media Bureau, Arti Kaul, leading vocal artist from Kashmir and who served on the board of directors of Kashmiri Overseas Association, Shayan Kaul, who has written a book on Kashmir based on his research, were the key panel members and spoke on the revoking of Articles 370 and 35A and making Kashmir an integral part of India.