Prominent invitees, MPs, CG Tomar, Speaker Meira Kumar, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, among others
CHICAGO: Members of the Indian Parliamentary delegation that visited Chicago recently expressed sympathy for the anti corruption movement of Anna Hazare and said the issue needs to be addressed.
The question was put to the leader of the delegation, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and she is reported to have observed that the matter is being discussed at the highest level and that a decision could be expected soon. She counseled awaiting the outcome and made no observation of her own.
Meira Kumar was leading a 12-member delegation to Panama-Mexico and as put by her, the two-day visit to Chicago was of a “transit” nature and had no specific objective in mind. The Indian Parliamentary delegation was scheduled to attend the 124th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union being held from April 15-20 in Panama. Meira Kumar visited Chicago along with her delegation en route to Mexico and Panama.
The Indian consulate in Chicago held a dinner reception in the honor of the visiting delegation at the Union League Club in Chicago Downtown on Sunday April 9. The dinner was attended by a good number of Indian as well as American businessmen, educationists, professionals, community activists and members of ethnic media. Introducing Meira Kumar and members of the delegation, the Indian Consul General in Chicago, Ms Mukta Tomar, said that Ms Kumar is lawyer and a former diplomat turned a ranking Indian politician having been elected five times as Member of Parliament. She was a member of 8th, 11th, 12th and 14th Lok Sabha before getting elected unopposed as the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha on 3 June 2009. She also acted as Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (2004-2009).
Ms. Tomar then dwelt upon the religious, cultural, academic and economic ties and cooperation between Midwest in general and Chicago in particular, and India. She referred to the visit of Swami Vivekanand 120 years ago to attend the World Parliament of Religions and that of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore 100 years ago to UIC at Urbana Champagne. She praised Indian Americans for espousing the cause of India and Indians here at the government and non-governmental level and lauded the upsurge in economic and cultural relations between the two countries, especially after the visit of President Barack Obama.
Ms Meira Kumar in her brief addressed also referred to historic ties between Chicago and India as also between the USA and India. She talked about the non-violent movement for achieving social justice by Mahatma Gandhi and how it had its influence on the thinking of the leaders here. She mentioned the visit of President Barack Obama and how it boosted the bilateral relations between the two countries. She specifically alluded to President Obama’s address to the Indian Parliament and his backing Indian bid to be a Permanent member of the Security Council.
Ms Meira Kumar endeared herself to the Chicago Indian fraternity with her unassuming look and approach, and quite an easy interaction with the guests present. Members of Parliament, especially Gopal Vyas, Ravindra Pandey, too were seen interacting with the community members.
Indian Consul Vishwas Sakpal presented a vote of thanks which was followed by a delicious dinner.
Following is the list of the delegation members:
Speaker of Lok Sabha, Mrs. Meira Kumar and & Manjul Kumar – Spouse; Dr M Jagannath, MP, Lok Sabha; S. Gopal Vyas, MP, Rajya Sabha; Ravindra Kumar Pandey, MP, Lok Sabha & Smt. Pandey; Sanjay Kumar Dinanath Patil, MP Lok Sabha & Smt. Patil; T. K. Vishwanathan, Secretary General, Lok Sabha Secretariat & Smt. SudhaVishwanathan; S. Bal Shekar, Additional Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat; U. S. Saxena, Joint Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat; Mrs. Shalini Singh, IPS, Private Secretary to the Speaker of Lok Sabha; K. P. Balyan, Officer on Special Duty, Lok Sabha Secretariat; N.C.Gupta, Director, Lok Sabha Secretariat, and Rakesh Anand, Deputy Director, Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Ramesh Soparawala & Suresh Shah
India Post News Service
