Patidar Foundation launched in New Jersey

- ADVERTISEMENT -

EDISON, NJ – A new organization, The Patidar Foundation, founded by Maulesh Patel, gathered together on November 30 at Royal Albert’s Palace in Edison, NJ, to reaffirm their commitment to the development of India.

After they honored the 15-foot statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel which stands in the courtyard, outside of Royal Albert’s Palace, many dignitaries spoke about the importance of maintaining the history of Patidars and their desire to unite everyone as it was the vision of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

“In the name of Sardar, the greatest uniter, we have seen a lot of religions and whenever it is convenient to use a politician’s name for any political party in which way that suits them, we always see the visionary. So we thought, why not reflect on Sardar Patel’s life. See what his messages are, see what he has done for the country, in what circumstances and try to do the same, try to follow his path and bring the message, bring the content, bring the unity and also provide a platform to join hands together,” said Maulesh Patel.

Dignitaries present at the gathering included Dr. Raj Bayani, Edison councilman Viru Patel, Harshad Patel and Minesh Patel of Gujarati Samaj of New York, Dr. Jayesh Patel, Piyush Patel, and Praful Patel, the great-great grandson of Sardar Patel.

Speaking on the concept of unity, a few dignitaries spoke on the occasion, which was organized by Samir Raval.

“In the last three years I have been briefly giving a hint about unity in Edison. Today our community is divided so much that we cannot have our voice heard because we are divided,” said Piyush Patel.

“If we Patidars get together, we can be as strong as the FIA and if we all Patidars unite, in the country, we can have a President of the United States with a Patel surname, in the next 10 years,” said Dr. Jayesh Patel, who also believes that to preserve the history for the next generation, Patidars in New Jersey should open up a library where books are translated from the Gujarati transcript into English.

Minesh Patel said that he is pleased to see the amount of Patels and Patidars that have been successful in the United States and on a side note mentioned the divide that Piyush Patel talked about earlier.

“Recently in my last speech in the Gujarati Samaj, somebody came up and told us that out of the 16 percent of Indians in the national county, only one percent voted, the rest of them never went to the voting booths and the same issue lies in Edison Township,” said Minesh Patel.

Harshad Patel and Councilman Viru Patel also gave their thoughts on unity and the community becoming one.

The gathering ended with the showing of two documentaries: one on Sardar Vallabhai Patel and the other on the history of Patidars, which was created from the research done by the Patidar Foundation of New Jersey.