Ambassador to US feted by Indian Americans at prestigious Plainfield Country Club, NJ

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Close to 190 people met India’s Ambassador to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, at a high-profile meet-and-greet held at the upscale Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey, Saturday July 1, 2023.

The event was hosted by the Federation of Indian Associations – NYNJCT, along with the Indian Consulate in New York, and other Indian American community organizations.

In his extensive speech, Ambassador Sandhu praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his recently concluded substantive State Visit to the US. Praising the Indian American community for its dedication to strengthening US-India relations, the Ambassador recounted the achievements of the Modi government and the Indian American community, and looked to a future of stronger bilateral relations.

The Ambassador spoke about the highly symbolic instances during the three-day visit, like President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden welcoming PM Modi at the White House the day before the official visit; the impression the address to the US Congress made. “Partnership is a two-way process,” he noted about the US-India relations. President Biden has been invested in the bilateral relations for a very long time, the Ambassador said, from the time he was a Senator. As for PM Modi, the Ambassador noted, he traveled in the US even before becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

The Ambassador dwelt about the ‘most important’ part of the visit that involved technology sharing in the strategic defense relationship, and the many areas where the relations have expanded.

He also spoke of how New Jersey was a hub for Indian-owned businesses. “Indian companies are playing an important role,” he said. Ambassador Sandhu dwelt on the importance of Indian American health care professionals during the COVID pandemic, and their historically recognized delivery of care in the lives of regular Americans.

Ambassador Sandhu appealed to the audience to share their knowledge and expertise with their Indian alma maters – places they graduated from before coming to the US. That he said would improve education in India, he said, noting the scope for this endeavor includes campus-to-campus collaboration, joint research in many fields including the digital.

All the community organizations presented the Ambassador with bouquets and mementos.

The enthusiasm was evident as the number of attendees overshot those who had responded to the invitation, organizers told Desi Talk.

“This was a long-awaited community engagement with the Ambassador. The initial event was planned for March 15, 2020, just before the COVID lockdown came on March 12,” Ankur Vaidya, chairman of FIA, told Desi Talk.

Among the other speakers at the event were Acting Consul General Dr. Varun Jeph who introduced the Ambassador and thanked the community for attending; FIA President Kenny Desai; Vaidya, Smita Miki Patel, vice president of FIA, who also gave the vote of thanks; Gurjeet Singh, FIA member, and Jitendra Muchal of Friends of MP (Madhya Pradesh).

Chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media and ITV Gold Dr. Sudhir Parikh, who is also senior advisor to FIA, was among those who received the Ambassador at the venue.

Vaidya thanked the Ambassador, the attendees, and the Plainfield Country Club and its manager Stephen Kurd, as well as ITV Gold for being available at short notice to cover the event. The FIA President Kenny Desai thanked the Ambassador and the community for attending at short notice.

There were two performances at the event, one by Sneh Art and Sunny Thakkar, and the other included two Columbia University students who played musical instruments.