India Association Of Long Island Swears In New Leaders

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The induction ceremony of the IALI Executive Council 2022 took place on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, at Mint Restaurant in Garden City, New York.

The oath was administered by Judge Elizabeth Fox McDonough of New York State Supreme Court, to the 32nd President of IALI Bina Sabapathy who took oath on the Bhagvad Geeta. Judge Fox McDonough also administrated the oath to Vice President Hargovind Gupta, Secretary Pradeep Tandon, EC members Dr. Neeru Bhambri and Gary Sikka.

The new Executive Council members pledged to faithfully execute the office of their respective positions in IALI and to perform their duties to the best of their abilities, to protect, preserve, and defend the constitution and bylaws of IALI, Constitution of Nassau and Suffolk counties, Constitution of New York State and the Constitution of the United States of America, a press release from IALI said.

The ceremony was attended by more than 85 guests that included many IALI members, many past presidents, public officials, community leaders, renowned journalists and media hosts, apart from Judge Fox McDonough and Deputy County Executive, Suffolk County Joe Kaiman. COVID testing kits provided by Senator Kevin Thomas were distributed to all the guests.

Earlier, Narinder Kapoor, a senior member of the organization blessed the ceremony with his invocation prayer and gifted a copy of Bhagvad Gita to incoming President Sabapathy as a guiding force to lead the organization. After that, U.S. and Indian National Anthems were sung.

Pradeep Tandon, Secretary IALI 2022 in his welcome speech extended a warm welcome to all dignitaries, past presidents, and guests.

Tandon highlighted the commitment and service to the community provided by IALI and promised he would work with full commitment, honesty and integrity. He also predicted that the best of IALI is yet to come and all must work together for a better future for the organization.

Judge Elizabeth Fox McDonough, who was introduced by Bobby Kalotee, spoke about the important work that IALI does and the contribution made by the Indian community at large.

Citations were presented to the new executive team members from County Executive Bruce Blakeman who was represented at the event by Harry Brar. They also received a citation from Supervisor Joseph Saladino of Town of Oyster Bay represented by Mukesh Modi.

After the swearing-in was over, Krishnendu (Kris) Rudra complimented Sabapathy and spoke about 32 years of dedicated community service she had rendered. He also acknowledged and appreciated the presence of Jasbir Jay Singh who contested the election against Sabapathy.

Sabapathy, in her speech, recounted the history of IALI over the 43 years of its existence for which the seeds were planted by five Long Island physician families to promote Indian culture in a foreign land through dance, music, art and festivities. The organization now boasts  2,400 members; she noted she was a Past President of the organization in 2017.

Sabapathy spoke of her future plans to take IALI to the next level, such as appointing an “Advisory Board” consisting of 12 to 14 Past Presidents to guide and advise her with their knowledge and experience, and to enhance unity in diversity by creating a “Diversity Forum” with representatives who hailed from different States of India, and to show mainstream America that India is a land of many cultures but that at the end there is just one India.

Sabapathy thanked all her mentors by name, including Varinder and Ratna Bhalla, Guru Maan from Vedic Heritage,  Mohinder Singh Taneja,  Kamlesh Mehta, Dr. Bobby Kalotee, Indu Jaiswal, Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, Dr. Binod Verma, Dr. Anila Midha, Dr. Jagdish Gupta,  Gobind Munjal, Dr. S. S. Ranu,  Kishore Kuncham, and Satnam Singh Parhar.

Two-term Past President Anila Midha (2008-2009) in her farewell introduction praised the dedication of outgoing president Shashi Malik and her team. President Sabapathy presented a plaque to Malik.

Many past presidents spoke at the ceremony about the rich history of IALI and their experiences working with Sabapathy. They included

Dr. Jagan Pahuja, Dr. Parveen Chopra, Gitanjali Anand, Indu Jaiswal, Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, Dr. Binod Verma, Dr. Anila Midha, Satnam Singh Parhar, Beena Kothari, and Gunjan Rastogi.

Others who spoke on the occasion included media personality Ashok Vyas of ITV Gold, talk show host Vibhuti Jha, journalist Amit Parasnath and community leader Mukesh Modi.

Ravinder Sikka was honored at the event and presented a bouquet by Sabapathy for the support provided by Mint to IALI and the community at large.

Tandon in vote of thanks, thanked all the dignitaries, past presidents, public officials, IALI members, and the media who attended the function. He also thanked Anju Sharma, Sanju Sharma, Sushma Kaushik, and Neelam Srivastava for taking care of the registration. He also thanked Narinder Kapoor and Jyoti Gupta and Vimal Goyal for their contribution.

Special mention was made of Dr. Sudhir Parikh of ITV Gold who was represented by Ashok Vyas, as well as Pinki Jaggi of LILC,  Zahid Syed,  Sharanjit S. Thind,  Mohinder Taneja,  Deepak Bansal and other community leaders.

He also thanked the Election Committee Chair Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, and her team consisting of Rekha Chichara, Sushma Kaushik, Sujata Seth, and Dr. Jag Kalra for conducting the IALI elections 2022.