Gujarat minister of Education (Primary, Secondary and Adult), Higher and Technical Education, Food and Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Science and Technology Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Additional Chief Secretary (Primary & Secondary Education) Arvind Agrawal were given a warm welcome by Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar at Shakti Hall, Karma Yoga House, on 22nd January.
The ceremony started with a networking event followed by Gujarati vegetarian dinner and songs by Arpan Patel to commemorate India’s Republic Day. Chudasama was touched by the greetings and exclaimed, “These moments would forever become memorable to me.’’ He began his inaugural address by expressing his deep appreciation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked if they would be interested to know more about Modi. Talking about his relationship with Modi, he added that they have been known to each other since 1974 (in times of crisis). Chudasama said that Modi was blessed with some divine energy.
He said that the independent India in her 67 years of history has never witnessed such incredible phenomenon and transformations so far as it can be seen under Modi’s reign. ‘‘The one who has never contested for the post of Sarpanch directly becomes a chief minister and the one who has never been an MP today becomes the Prime Minister,’’ Chudasama added.
Chudasama praised Modi for his ideology of bringing permanent solutions to the problems. Outlining the development across rural areas, he says, ‘‘today even the remotest villages receive 24 hours water and electricity. Thanks to Jyotigram Yojana which has made available an array of facilities to enriching the villages and thereby quite a few people are now migrating to the rural areas.’’ Giving instances of a solar power panel which was installed over a canal near Vadodara, he said that this project saved large quantity of water and produced electricity worth over Rs 20 million.
Highlighting the transformations being carried out by the Gujarat government, he said that our officers nowadays personally visit the villages on the occasions such as Independent Day which in itself was unique. Giving emphasise to the spirit of sportsmanship among youth, he said that we have given a glittering start to ‘Khel Mahakumbh’.
Recalling the fresh initiative being undertaken to resume direct Ahmedabad- London flight, Chudasama asserted that they were also supporting the demand. He added that he has also written two letters concerning the demand for direct flight. He stated though Modi was all concerned with the issues of corruption, terrorism and so on, he surely would look into your demand sympathetically. Lastly Chudasama expressed his deep gratitude to everyone present for preserving their love for the native languages as well as showing their love for the nation.
Arvind Agarwal said that the whole nation is on the way to being developed the way Gujarat has been progressed under Modi’s chief ministership. He thanked the people of Gujarat for being a key driving force behind revolutionising the state. Outlining the development in the field of education, Agrawal said that the youth of Gujarat has huge growth potentials due to various universities that are being established in the state. “The Prime Minister is on the go to revolutionising our education by sending our fellow teachers abroad in a bid to help us keep pace with the latest and most influential pedagogies,’’ he added.
Lord Dolar Popat said that the support for Modi had rightly kick-started from Britain but unfortunately he had not visited UK yet. He also raised his concern about the hike in visa fees by the Indian government.
Responding to Lord Popat's concern, Agrawal said that Prime Minister Modi could not visit the country due to forthcoming general elections in the UK. He further added that Modi initially preferred to visit only neighbouring countries for either G-20 or other summits. He has never been to any other country except Japan for his official visit. And regarding the visa fees, Agrawal explained that it’s the Indian students who are left in a dilemma following huge fees increase by the UK Immigration.
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Lord Navnit Dholkia and Member of London Assembly Navinbhai Shah also addressed the gathering. News editor of Gujarat Samachar Kamal Rao and Associate Editor of Asian Voice Rupanjana Dutta briefed about their weekly newspapers to the gathered audience. The event concluded with India’s national anthem.
The function was attended by Peers such as Lord Raj Loomba, Mayor of Southwark Cllr Sunil Chopra, entrepreneurs, professionals and community and organisational heads such as: Dhimant Trivedi, Chief Executive, European Operations of Bank of Baroda, Lohana leader Sije Rabheru, Kantibhai Nagada from Sangat Centre, President of Overseas Friends of BJP UK Lalubhai Parekh, Sanjay Kadiya, Manubhai Ramji from Kings Kitchen, Ragsudha Vinjamuri, journalist, Professor of Southampton University and former President of Maharashtra Mandal Sunil Raptawar, Lucrum Consultancy founder Milind Kangale, Avinash Tiwari from Vishwa Hindu Parishad Ilford, Vinayaben Sharma, Hinaben Vadgama from Universal Estate, Ravi Bhanot, Manish Tiwari from Here and Now, officials from British Council and others.
