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FOSAAC
Awards Ceremony
By MICHEL W. POTTS
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—As the honored guest of the evening who
took time out from celebrating Mexican Independence Day
elsewhere in the city, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
made it clear that, as a Latino, he owed his political career to
the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.
Whenever he reflects on Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, “I
think of the word gratitude,” he stated in speech to members of
the Indian American community who had gathered at the Beverly
Hilton hotel here Sept. 15 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of
India’s independence exemplified by the annual Awards Gala
hosted by the Friends of the South Asian American Communities.
“Make no mistake about it, I wouldn’t be here today as the first
of my community in 133 years to be mayor of a city that was
founded by Mexican settlers 226 years ago if there wasn’t a
Civil Rights Act, and I wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a
Martin Luther King,” he declared.
“That Civil Rights Act wouldn’t have ultimately prevailed if it
hadn’t been a non-violent movement. And so the connection
between Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian people, Mexicans, Americans
of every nationality in terms of their origin, is deep and
profound.”
As mayor of perhaps the most diverse city in the world,
Villaraigosa believed that “it is here where the principles of
non-violence should be a founding principle, a pillar principle
of how we put together our social compact in this city.”
He then presented FOSAAC’s Dalip Singh Saund Award for
Outstanding Political Contribution to Indo-American Society, to
Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National
Committee, whom he described as “the engineer behind the
resurgence of the Democratic Party”
McAuliffe, he pointed out, “built the party at the grassroots
level…and reached out to every community because he understood
that our party has always been the party of the big tent, the
party that unites every community in America, the party that
includes and not excludes.”
In his acceptance speech, McAuliffe, who now serves as chairman
of Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, which he
described as “probably the most important job I’ve had in my 29
years of politics,” unabashedly declared that “it is time for a
woman to be president of this great country.”
After thanking those Indian Americans in the audience who had
contributed to Clinton’s campaign, he reminded them and everyone
else present that they were “taking part in one of the most
important elections of our lifetime” since “the country is under
siege because of the policies of George Bush.”
He specifically thanked the Indian and Pakistani American
communities “who have been there time in and time out. You have
been with us and been with this party through the good times and
the tough times…It has been the South Asian community in our
toughest times who continually have stood up and fought and
stayed with their friends, the Democratic Party.”
Congressman Brad Sherman, a member of the executive committee of
the House India Caucus who asserted that he has been “working
for the best possible relations between the United States and
India,” presented a flag that had flown over the Capitol
Building to FOSAAC chairman Kishore Kaul.
Before he made the presentation, he praised the Indian American
community as a group “that stands behind their values and to
value helping those at the bottom even as they climb to the top
shows a dedication to humanity and a dedication to helping
everyone, including those at the bottom.”
Kaul also received a Certificate of Recognition from the
California State Board of Equalization from vice chair Judy Chu,
who earlier in her brief speech called the Indian Americans
“true role models” with whom she saw “as the beginning of many
more great friendships.”
Representing the California governor’s office, Kelly Golden read
a letter from governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he praised
the South Asian community for “their great contributions” to
California and for adding “to our state’s success.”
“Your heritage, as embodied in your history, customs and spirit
of service, is part of what makes our state one of the most
dynamic regions in the world,” he wrote.
Prior to the presentation of the awards, the audience was
treated to a fashion show staged by designer Sanjana Jon, who
dedicated the event to her brother Anand Jon, an up and coming
fashion designer himself who career has been cut short following
his arrest for multiple counts of alleged sexual misconduct.
Flanked by Marla Maples and Miss India title holder Amrita
Thapar, Jon stated that she and her supporters “all stand for
global independence (and) civil rights (which) applies to each
and every one of us…and I just hope that we have a fair justice
system.”
The main awards ceremonies began with
Dr. Prem Reddy presenting the Mahatma Gandhi Award for
Outstanding Contribution to Society to Subash Razdan of Atlanta,
Ga, Chairman of the Gandhi Foundation of USA,
followed by Shiv Grewal presenting the Dhirubhai Ambani Award
for Outstanding Entrepreneur to Hardy Grewal.
Other awards included Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Award for
Outstanding Patriotism going to Ashok Athalye, while the Raj
Kapoor Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Films went to
director Shonali Bose, and the Conjee Rustumjee Cohoujee Bey
Award for Outstanding Youth of the Year presented to Pooja
Patel.
While the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Award for Outstanding
Leadership went to CV Gopinath of Delhi, the Kalpana Chawla
Award for Outstanding Woman of the Year was presented to Anne
Tahim and the Dr. Zakir Hussain Award for Outstanding
contribution to Arts went to Kartik Trivedi.
The Mother Teresa Award for Humanitarian of the Year was
presented to Dr. Jacob Eapen. Meanwhile, the Sir C.V. Raman
Award for Outstanding Contribution to Science went to Uday Kumar
Ghosh of Germany and the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Outstanding
Proactive Leadership went to Krishan Khanna of Mumbai.
Special Recognition Awards were later presented to Nadeem Shafi,
Sanjana Jon, Tiffany Trump, Ken Singh, Pradeep Agarwal, Gibran
Sean, Waqar Khan and Sunder Ramani. Also during the evening, a
total of 63 Event Supporter Awards were presented.
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