Silicon Valley, Jun 03: Overseas Indians must unite to free their homeland from modern day enemies such as terrorism and corruption, B K Agnihotri, India's ambassador-at-large for NRIs and PIOs has said. "Today, India is free. Let us see what we can do to keep it free. Let us see what we can do that Jammu and Kashmir stays part of India forever. Let us see what we can do to see that India is free of corruption," he said at the 90th anniversary function of the Gadar movement yesterday.
Members of the Gadar Party were Indian loyalists who struggled in far-off America to gain freedom for their motherland India from British rule.
Other speakers who spoke at the function included Ujjal Dosanjh, former premier of British Columbia, Canada, who said there was need to continue the revolution against new enemies in free India. India, despite its ancient civilization and its ancient wisdom had become "absolutely corrupt. Corrupt not just in giving or taking of money, corrupt in almost every relationship that we have. Fairness, as value that we find in our ancient literature and classical books, doesn't exist in that country."
"It exists in our mind when we make speeches, but it does not exist on the ground. Fairness is not part of the political ethic of that country today," Dosanjh said.
India does not need engineers or software experts, it produces and exports them. India needs the ethic and integrity in public life," he added. The day-long celebration which, included a seminar on the Gadar movement, was jointly organised by the National Federation of Indian American Association, Global Organization of People of Indian Origin, Federation of Indian-American Associations in the San Francisco/Bay Area and Global Punjabi Diaspora.
The Hindustan Gadar Party was formed in San Francisco in 1913 by Indian expatriates, who were persecuted by the Americans. Lala Har Dayal, a visiting professor at Stanford University, was the central figure of the movement until he was forced to leave the country in April 1914. Bureau Report