Confederation of Indian Organisations (UK), popularly known as CIO, celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a Dinner at The Taj Hotel, Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AF on Thursday 9th April 2015.
The event saw gathering of past offices, Executive Committee Members, leaders of Indian organisations, dignitaries and politicians.
Mr. Keith Vaz, who has been an MP from Leicester since 1987, was delighted to see so many people from Leicester who were present. He commended the work done by CIO over 40 years and especially highlighted Mr Tara Mukherjee and also his past and present management committees and officers. He cited a number of people from Leicester who had contributed in CIO’s progress and that of Leicester City.
Lord Navnit Dholakia remembered the historic achievements by CIO in fields of seeking political rights for the Indian community and bringing awareness about health care in the Indian community. He explained how Mr Tara Mukherjee, Kanti Nagda, C B Patel and he travelled to different parts of the UK to activate the Indian community as well as holding fringe meetings at all major political party’s annual conferences.
Mr Tara Mukherjee, who has been the President of CIO since its inception, outlined the progress made by CIO in the last 40 years and praised the efforts of the past committee members, officers and the current Board Members. He singled out Kanti Nagda and said, “if it was not for Kanti, we would not be here today”. He described the difficulties faced by CIO in its formative years. He informed that he came to the UK in 1948 and his century while playing for Leicestershire cricket team earned him friends. Leicester then had 17 Indians and now there are 1.5million Indians in the UK.
Mr Pritam Lal, First Secretary at the Ministry of Co-ordination, Indian High Commission expressed his delight to come in contact with an organisation which had achieved so much. He wished the organisation continued success and asked them to increase contact with the High Commission.
Mr C B Patel (Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice/Gujarat Samachar) paid particular tribute to Mr Tara Mukherjee for his dedicated work and the results he achieved while heading the CIO. He also praised the hard work of Kanti Nagda, Vijay Amin, Tanzeem Ahmed, Bhanu Nagda, Meeraben Trivedi and several others in the success of CIO.
