GEETHA PATIL
Boson: The Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party(OFBJP) Boston celebrated June 2 at the Raddison Hotel Chelmsford, Massachusetts, the victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections held in India.
Hundreds of people from the New England region gathered with much passion and enthusiasm and celebrated the grand victory of Modi, a leader whom many see as a driving force behind strengthening India’s image in the world.
Modi and the BJP scored a dramatic election victory increasing its majority on a mandate of business-friendly policies and a tough stand on national security.On the victory day, Modi said that this is not his victory but the victory of the expectations of the honest citizens of this country, especially mothers, youth, farmers and unorganized sector laborers.
The main program started with a warm welcome to the audience by the emcees of the program, Geetanjali Vermani and Jyoti Singh. Later, pooja and arati of Lord Rama, Hanuman and Lord Shiva were performed by the priests from Dwarkamai temple, North Billerica, Massachusetts.
This was followed by the singing of the national anthems of India and the US and melodious bhajans by M. Rama Rao Mukkamala, who is a professional musician. He specializes in Hindustani classical vocal.
A short video show was presented in the background paying homage to ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Ananth Kumar, Manohar Parrikar and BJP activists who died in West Bengal, Gujarat and Odisha. This homage video was made by Anil Chawla. A number of dignitaries, including Abhishek Singh, Convener, OFBJP Boston, lighted lamps and observed a two-minute silence to pay respect to the martyrs of India.
Balram Singh, who has retired from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and who had directed the university’s Center for Indic Studies and Botulinum Research Center, spoke about Modi’s victory, his vision and policies for making India a strong nation in the world in the coming years.
Guitar Prasanna and his wife Shalini Lakshmi sang beautiful songs and entertained the audience.Prasanna is one of the most celebrated and internationally acclaimed artists and a pioneer in performing the traditional Indian classical Carnatic music on a modern electric guitar.
Sankar Manikonda, a popular singer of New England area, sang patriotic songs and captivated the audience in a patriotic mood. Sharanya Sarkar Verma sang Vande Maatram and made everyone sing with her. Navneet Sharma sang a very melodic patriotic song with great devotion. Ramchandra Joshi, an Indian classical vocalist, sang a poem composed by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Sonal Limbachia sang the evergreen patriotic song, “Ae mere vatan ke logo”.
Abhishek Singh proposed his vote of thanks to the members of the audience, the sponsors Dilip Patel and Ashok Patel, Barkha Sharma and her team from Divine Events Decors for their beautiful stage and other decorations and emcees of the program Vermani and Singh He also thanked the Radisson Hotel Chelmsford for providing their hall for the program.
