The spirit of unity in the vibrant Indian community in New South Wales was very much

evident in the grand reception held on Saturday 30 May 2015 for the 15 member delegation

of the Parliamentarians and senior officials from India, led by Hon. Pratap Rudy, the Minister

of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Minister of State – Parliamentary

Affairs, Government of India at Grand Marion Function Centre, Harris Park.

The reception was organised jointly by prominent Indian community associations in NSW,

led by United Indian Association, Council of Indian Australians, Tamil Arts and Cultural

Association (TACA), Australian Hindi Indian Association, IIT Alumni Association, Institute of

Charted Accountants of India and attended by many enthusiastic community members.

The 10-member delegation led by Minister Rudy included BJP’s Shri Avinash Raj Khanna,

Samajwadi Party’s Shri Arvind Kumar Singh, Shiv Sena’s Shri Shivaji Adhalrao Patil,

AIADMK’s Ponnusamy Venugopal, CPI (M)’s Jharna Das Baidya, Bharatiya Janata Dal’s

Dilip Kumar Tirkey, AITC’s Shri Prasun Banerjee and TDP’s Shri Venkata Narasimham

Thota and senior officials Shri Afsal Amanaullah, Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

and Shri Rajiv Mathur Head – Standards & QA, National Skill Development Corporation.

The event commenced with a delightful Kathak performance by Apeksha and Niharika from

Ruchi Sanghi Dance Academy introduced by the Master of Ceremony Kartik Mohandas. Mrs

Yujita Chaudhry welcomed the Minister, Delegation and the community members. Mr. John

Kennedy, Chair of UIA stated that the community organisations were delighted to host this

important event and spoke about importance of our community in Australia.

The Indian Parliamentarians were on a good will visit to Australia, visiting Melbourne,

Sydney and Canberra coinciding with, the first anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra

Modi’s government. Speaking to the Indian Diaspora in the community reception Hon. Rajiv

Pratap Rudy, the Minister for State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, sought their

support for various development projects in India.

“Members of Parliament are here to meet Australian leaders and to discuss various aspects

of partnerships in the area of business, clean energy, free trade agreement (FTA), security

and also on skill development front,” Rudy said while addressing the community. The

Minister also highlighted ongoing visionary projects under PM Modi’s leadership such as

Pension Schemes, Swachh Bharat, Make in India, Digital India etc. Minister Rudy also

answered some queries of the community members. The members of Parliament also

interacted with community members. Mr. Sunjay Sudhir, Consul General of India, Sydney

was a special guest of the community reception.

In their honour, momentos were presented to all members of the delegation and Mr. Sanjay

Patel, a major sponsor of the community reception. Mr. Vish Viswanathan, presented a vote

of thanks on behalf of the community organisations and acknowledged the great community

spirit of unity in the organisation behind the above successful event.