Held in New York City on Aug 19th 2007
A report for internal use only
New York, NY ? Aug 20, 2007
Local chapter of OFBJP (USA) participated in the 60th Anniversary of India?s Independence Day parade held in New York City on Aug 19th Sunday 2007. The parade was organized by Federation of India Associations (FIA) that was attended by several celebrities and leaders such as NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams, Dr. Subrahmanyam Swamy, BJP MP from Junagarh Smt. Bhavana Ben Chikalia., and many Bollywood stars including Ms. Priyanka Chopra as Grand Marshall.
More than 60 people walked behind a huge OFBJP (USA) banner led by Sri Rajender Singh. The prominent OFBJP leaders who led the parade were Sri Arish Sahani, Dr. Adapa V. Prasad, Dr. Rajesh Shukla, Sri Madhu Upadhyay and Sri Sabhapathi. Sri Jayesh Patel, OFBJP leader from New Jersey and Past President of FIA provided his valuable support and guidance.
The volunteers in the OFBJP procession were carrying play cards that read ?Vande Mataram?, ?Save Ram Setu? and ?Join OFBJP?. Flags of India and BJP were waved enthusiastically while chanting vociferously ?Vande Mataram? and ?Bharat Mata Ki Jai?, to which the crowd responded back enthusiastically with chants of ?Way to go?, ?Vande Mataram?, ?Hey BJP you move on, we support you? etc. This enthusiastic support from the crowd gave us a tremendous pride and strength. The participants from other floats also sought BJP flags and in no time the BJP flags and Saffron-Green scarves disappeared from our hands.
The parade started at 1:30 PM from 41st street and Madison Avenue and ended up at 27th street and Madison Avenue after 2hrs. At the end of the parade the participants dispersed after one last chant of Vande Mataram. We believe that it was a good beginning of energized and unified OFBJP (USA). It was suggested by many that OFBJP should participate in this parade every year, and after the parade a public meeting should be held.
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