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Indians in Australia plan grand I-Day bash

Paritosh Parasher in Sydney

The Indian community in Australia is planning grand functions to mark India's 54th Independence Day.

The Indian diaspora in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, will hold a big function on the day.

The Melbourne function, India 2001, will be the first such event in the Victorian city, which is home to over 50,000 people of Indian origin.

The Federation of Indian Associations in Victoria will organise the event at the vast Concert Hall in the Victorian Arts Centre on August 19.

"The purpose of organising this cultural evening is to showcase and promote various aspects of Indian culture to Australians and other non-Indians," FIAV president Abul Hasnat told the Indo-Asian News Service.

A number of Indo-Australian artists are scheduled to promote the diversity of Indian cultural heritage through classical and folk dances. The list of performers includes Melbournian classical Indian dance artistes Chandrabhanu and Tara Rajkumar.

"About 40 volunteers are devoting time to make the event a success. So far the response has been encouraging. The continuation of the event next year will depend upon the success of the inaugural function," said Hasnat, who hails from Ranchi in the state of Jharkhand.

Apart from showcasing Indian culture, the event aims at showing the solidarity of the diaspora to both Indo-Australians and the wider community.

So far Indo-Australians from various regional, cultural and religious backgrounds have failed to put up a concerted show of their unity. The history of the FIAV and Sydney's United Indian Associations is littered with incidents of inter- and intra-association squabbles.

"There are 23 member associations in FIAV. It is obvious that there will be some disagreements. We intend to improve the Indian community's image in the eyes of Australians and also in the community itself," said Hasnat.

But differences persist and are reflected in the way the Independence Day celebrations are planned. While the FIAV is holding a cultural evening at the Melbourne Concert Hall, a parallel 'umbrella' body of Indo-Australians in Victoria, Australia-India Society of Victoria, Inc, will hold its celebrations on August 25 at another venue.

According to earlier reports, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard was scheduled to preside over the function in Melbourne. Hasnat did not confirm this.

While Victorians of Indian origin will be celebrating India 2001, their counterparts in New South Wales will be doing so by holding the India Fair at show grounds in the Fairfield suburb of Sydney.

S P Bhatia, UIA's previous president, said: "I was among the persons to start this fair to bring the Indian community together. Later, we decided to bring the date closer to the Indian Independence Day.

"In the first year, about 2,000 people attended the fair. This year, we are expecting to attract 20,000 visitors, which would include [NSW] Premier Bob Carr and Australian Immigration and Cultural Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock."

Carr, who belongs to the Labour Party, will be the chief guest at this function, which is believed to attract the largest number of Australians with links to the subcontinent.

Last year's India Fair held in September to coincide with the Sydney Olympics attracted around 15,000 people. The figure also included a large number of Indians who had come to attend the Olympics.

Indo-Asian News Service

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