Harmohan Walia

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Indian Community in Australia offers condolences and tribute to Uri martyrs

 

Sydney, 25th September, 2016

In a sombre ceremony on 25 September, Indian community in Sydney  offered condolences for the martyrs of Uri Terror attack.

Approximately 100 prominent members of Indian Australian community met in The Dezire Function Centre in Blacktown, NSW today to offer tribute to the 18 Indian army soldiers who were slain in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir by heavily-armed terrorists  in the early morning of 18 September, 2016.

A video (prepared by Dimple Deez of Desi Australia) was shown, describing the Uri terror attack and names as well as the details of the slain martyrs. Indian national anthem was sung with patriotism and enthusiasm.

Flowers were offered and brief speeches were given, condoling the killings and expressing solidarity with India and Indian army. Terrorism which India suffers from across the borders was condemned in strongest possible words. It was made clear that our issues are with Pakistan’s support and use of terror  groups, not with Pakistani Australian community with which we have good relations.

Indian Consulate in Sydney was represented by Mr S. K. Verma, Consul, Community Welfare.

Speakers were clear in their condemnation of Jihadi (Terror) groups which are allowed to operate from Pakistan and hit targets inside India. They asked India and the world to take a serious note of the situation and work together to deal with these terror groups and their patronage in the region. Capt Sarjinder Singh Sandhu of Australian Sikh Association and Raj Singh spoke from their personnel experiences as they have significant Indian army connections. Akila Ramarathinam, Ajay Khanna, Dave Passi, Pravin Gupta (whose partner read out a poem for the slain martyrs and their families), Logessan Pillay, Dr Shailja Chandra, Ashok Kumar and Harmohan Walia were some of the speakers.

After a brief speech about the Uri terror attack, Dr Yadu Singh conducted the event ably and efficiently.

It was also noted that none of the “Intolerance” brigade which made a song and dance about so-called “intolerance” in India a few months ago has said a single word against terrorism coming from Pakistan.

There was a unanimous support  for asking Pakistani actors and singers to leave India since they too have not condemned the terror attack. People did not feel there is any purpose to have sports relations either when India keeps getting hit by terrorists from Pakistan.

The choices are clear for Pakistan. We either choose good relations or terror.

Gratitude was expressed profusely for Indian defence personnel’ services and sacrifices at the borders.

Many volunteered to offer financial contributions for the welfare of Indian defence personnel but noted with gratitude that Central and State governments have already offered generous support to the families of the slain martyrs.

Slogans of Jai Hind & Hindustan Zindabad were  raised with fervour and patriotism.

(Further info https://yadusingh.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/join-in-paying-tribute-to-martyrs-of-uri-terrorist-attack/)

Dr Yadu Singh

President, Federation of Indian Associations of NSW

http://www.fian.org.au

http://www.facebook.com/fianinc

 

 

 

 

 

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Politics, political parties and Indian Australian community!

 

Sydney, 1st Sept, 2014Australian Flag

There are over 150,000 people of Indian heritage in NSW and 500,000 people Australia wide. Ours is an increasingly important community politically. In Western suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, there are constituencies, where Indian Australians constitute more than 10% of total votes. Our votes can decide the outcome in many marginal seats.

It is no wonder that political parties are reaching out to Indian Australian community actively. It started with Parliamentary friends of India during previous NSW Govts led by Nathan Rees/Kristina Keneally, followed by Liberal Friends of India formed about one year ago. Similar groupings are in existence federally and Victoria in one or the other form.

While there is no doubt that we are important electorally, the thrust from political parties has been to deal with us only symbolically, not substantially. Except for the recent pre-selection of an Indian Australian in Seven Hills seat, there is no sign of any efforts from any political party to preselect anyone from our community for any of safe seats. If any of us is ever preselected, it is generally for those seats where there is no chance of us winning. ALP’s Harmohan Walia contesting a safe Liberal seat of Mitchell some years ago and inclusion of Bhupinder Chhibber in the Senate list from ALP last year, albeit at a lower and unwinnable spot, are two classical examples. There was no chance of them winning. Similar examples are there from Liberal side too. These are examples of tokenism.

Over the years, our community dynamics have been changing. Indians have been migrating to Australia in big numbers. India has been the top source of migrants over the last few years. Many of us have been joining political parties too, but still not in sufficient numbers.

Prior to 1990s, Indians were big on supporting ALP. Smart marketing and outreach by ALP created an impression that ALP was more favourable and friendly to ethnic migrants. Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, were liked by Indians and other ethnic communities. Liberal Party leader, John Howard, before he became the Prime Minister, had the baggage of his comment against Asian migration in 1980s, which created some significant concerns regarding his stand towards ethnic migrants. It lingered on even after he admitted that his statement was a mistake. Unfortunately, this impression became further re-enforced in our minds when we saw the excessively harsh commentary, actions and sanctions by Australia against India after 1998 nuclear tests. Indian army officers were expelled from Australia overnight. The tone and the contents of Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s statements were particularly terse. It created a serious damage to India-Australia relations. Things changed quite favourably for Liberal party though when PM John Howard declared that Australia would sell Uranium to India in 2007, while ALP persisted with its policy of ban to sell Uranium to India, until Martin Ferguson and PM Gillard led campaign to reverse the ban succeeded at the end of 2012.

Today, there are almost equal supporters in our community for ALP and Liberal Party, although ALP supporters may have an edge. This support has been determined by variety of factors, which did include Uranium issue in the past. With changed dynamics of our community now however, economic management, policy on asylum seekers and business-friendly policies are playing a big role in our attitudes towards political parties. Quite a good number of our people are in small businesses. Younger members of our community are driven more by market economy than socialist ideas. After all, India has been an open and market-based economy since 1991, which has exposed our younger people, before they migrated, to market and open economy.

ALP and our community: There is a significant contingent of ALP supporters in our community, based largely in Western suburbs. They take part in ALP-supporting events through the year and during elections. ALP Premiers used to take some community members with them while taking trade delegations to India, thus giving an impression of inclusion. Subcontinent Friends of Labor was an initiative from NSW ALP HQ, which was provided full support by ALP top leaders to make it known and popular in the community. Grants to various temples and community groups was one of the strategy to win support. This has its advantages and disadvantages. This group is not as strong now as it was during ALP Govts in NSW and Canberra for obvious reasons. Its biggest drawback was its attempts to go against some sub-continental candidates like Susai Benjamin, as part of Right faction Vs Left faction battle. This was seen too during Bill Shorten Vs Anthony Albanese ALP leadership contest last year. This was not smart by any means, because it weakened and divided ALP members from Indian sub-continent significantly. On the positive side, ALP at least in NSW has a better strategy to communicate its stands and policies by emails to not only ALP members, but also other community members who are not ALP members. As Indians constitute a very big proportion of Indian sub-continental people in NSW and since interests of India are quite different from interests of other countries in the Indian sub-continent, it is preferable, in my view, to go for Labor Friend of India. Utopian socialist idea of Indian sub-continental unity or brotherhood is a myth, impractical and is never going to work.

Liberal Party and our Community: Prior to 2011 NSW State elections, then Leader of Opposition, Barry O’Farrell, was seen literally in every community event, but it changed dramatically once Liberal Party formed the Govt. Premier, Barry O’Farrell chose to rely only on one Indian who, in effect, had hardly any networking within the community, and did not help Liberals get many votes. Until election, he was virtually unknown. Indians were perplexed why he was being promoted on behalf of Liberal Govt in NSW. Premier O’Farrell ignored even Australia India Business Council (AIBC) when visiting India with trade delegations. Our community formed a clear and wide-spread perception that Indian community was actively distanced from NSW Govt either as a default or design. It indeed caused a substantial ill-feeling towards Liberal Party and NSW Govt. This was conveyed to local MPs, but they were either unwilling or, more likely, unable to do anything about it due to the fact that everything was driven from the former Premier’s office. Current Premier, Mike Baird, is much more inclusive, which is a welcome change and is already generating some goodwill. A lot more however needs to be done to overcome the damage. Time only will tell whether there is a real directional change under current Premier. Liberal Friends of India (LFI) is a good initiative but it has lost its charm or the enthusiasm lately. It needs to be reinvigorated. There was a time when  we saw one more body of the similar type with the name of  “Liberal friends of the subcontinent”  doing some events in Western Sydney. This created some considerable confusion. I am not sure what is IRS status now. LFI also needs participation from top ministers and must allow membership of even those community members who are Liberal-minded but are not members of Liberal party. It should not just be a mechanism to raise funds for the party. Its Chairman should be a key Minister with Executive Committee comprising of key Liberal-inclined community members, irrespective of their Liberal Party membership status. LFI needs to be reformed and relaunched.

Parramasala, an initiative of Keneally NSW Labor Govt, is indeed a good idea, and I am happy to see that current Liberal NSW Govt has decided to continue funding it. I went to its launch only a few days ago, and noticed things which could have been done better. Ministerial Consultative Committee (MCC) for Indian community has been dissolved, like other MCCs, but there is a need to have some form of Advisory Body from our community for regular consultations, discussions and interactions between our community and the Govt.

NSW Friends of India: Like USA and some European countries, there is a need for such groups in Australia. It should be a bipartisan phenomenon, with key ministers, MPs, journalists, businesses and community members, with year-round activities involving lectures, debates and discussions. A group like this may not get enthusiastic support from the Govt, but we, as the community, should push for it. After all, there are bonafide pro-India people in all political parties, businesses and media.

Our community’s participation: It is also true that many of us do not join political parties in sufficient numbers. This should change. Australia is our country too, and we ought to take part in its processes in all shapes and forms. We get a chance to do so pretty actively if we are part of political parties. Only then, we will be able to go for pre-selections and elections to reach Parliaments. After all, quota system is not a good idea generally, and it is better to compete fairly and frankly. If we are not inclined to join main political parties, we can consider forming or being a part of issues-based groups like “Voice of the West” focusing on Western suburbs to advance our political interests and ideas.

While at it, it will not be out of place to point out that we need to interact, collaborate and network with  members irrespective of their party or political affiliations and inclinations, when it comes to our common interests for the community. Just because someone is a member of ALP or Liberal party does not mean he or she is an enemy for those who are in opposing camps. There is no need or justification to badmouth or run an undermining campaign only because of someone’s political affiliation or inclination.

An edited version of my write-up was published by The Indian Sun newspaper recently. (http://www.theindiansun.com.au/top-story/australian-political-parties-indian-community/)

 

Dr Yadu Singh

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INDAUS Inc’s “Felicitation & honouring” evening for visiting prominent Indian writers was appreciated and enjoyed by all!

Indian Australian Association of NSW Inc [INDAUS Inc]

organised a reception to honour visiting prominent Indian writers on Wednesday, 5th Sept, 2012

at Chutney Restaurant, Harris Park, NSW.

INDAUS Inc’s “Felicitation & honouring” evening at Chutney Restaurant, Harris Park was enjoyed by all. Along with the visitors, Sydney’s prominent people attended the evening event. Dr Shailja Chandra, Mr Abbas Alvi, Mr Harmohan Walia, Manju Mittal, Dr Parwin Faiz, Dr Manmit Madan, Raymond Selvaraj [SBS Tamil Radio] were there along with 65 people in total, representing various segments of Indian community in Sydney.

President of INDAUS Inc, Dr Yadu Singh, conducted the evening with the help of Abhilash Narendran, Anagan Babu and Chidanand.

 A welcome message to the writers was read in many languages-English [Dr Yadu Singh], Hindi [Gaurav Nirwal], Telugu [Upendra Gadey], Kannada [Veena], Punjabi [Harmohan Walia], Tamil [Anagan Babu], Urdu [Abbas Alvi], Bengali [Mridula Chakravorty] and Malyalam [Abhilash Narendran]. This was followed by honouring of individual writers, with a presentation of a Plaque and a brief speech by the writers. Dr Shailja Chandra and Abbas Alvi recited their poetry.

Dr Singh informed the visitors that Indians are doing fine in Australia, despite the reports in Indian media that we are not. He gave a few examples of how the societies in Australia and India operate as a community and politically.

Anand Arora sang some beautiful songs which were enjoyed by all. He even sang some songs which were requested by the visitors. He enthralled everyone with his melodious songs.

A vote of thanks was given by Anagan Babu, scretary of INDAUS Inc.

INDAUS Inc Press release is here: INDAUS+-PressRelease-3-writers-event

The party finished at 11.30PM. The visitors were able to feel what we feel about Australia and India. They enjoyed themselves tremendously.

  Sydney’s Indian community was fortunate to have an opportunity to meet and interact with prominent writers from India who were visiting Sydney to take part in Australia-India Literatures International Forum, organised by University of Western Sydney and NSW Library.

Details:

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/series/australia_india_forum.html

Pics: https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.515832245096938.130933.496959000317596&type=1 

All except two were present in the reception.

Here is  the brief info about 10 writers, 1 publisher and 1 literary consultant, who visited Sydney.

Gujarati: Prabodh Parikh is a poet, short fiction writer and visual artist. His book of poems, Kaunsman (Between Parentheses/In Brackets) published in 1993, represents thirty years of work in Gujarati literature, and won the Gujarati Sahitya Akademi Award and the G F Saraf Award for Best Gujarati Book. Other work include Mitro, Karan Vinana Loko, Priya Bhayani Saheb, and Kauns Bahar, a book of essays on philosophy and poetry. His work has been translated into Bengali, English, Hindi, Marathi and Punjabi.

Hindi: Uday Prakash is one of contemporary Hindi’s most important, original and audacious voices. He is an eminent scholar, prolific poet, essayist, journalist, translator and short story writer. Peelee Chhatri Wali Ladki (2001, The Girl with the Yellow Umbrella) is his best-known and longest continuous story. Other works include Ek Bhasha Hua Karti Hai (2009), Cheeni Baba (2008), Mohan Das (2006), Raat Mein Harmonium (1998), Abootar Kabootar (1984), Suno Karigara (1980), among others. His work has been translated into 10 languages, and in 2011, the University of Western Australia Press translated and published The Walls of Delhi. He is the recipient of the 2010 Sahitya Akademi Award and 2009 SAARC Literary Award, among numerous other honours.

Kannada: Girish Karnad rose as a prominent playwright in the 1960s and marked the coming of age of Modern Indian playwriting in Kannada. He is a recipient of the Jnanpith Award. He uses history, mythology and the fold theatre forms to address contemporary issues. Most of his plays, Yayati, Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Agni Mattu Male, Taledanda have been translated into English and several Indian languages. He has been conferred with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan Awards by the Government of India. His famous play, Nagamandala, had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapois while he was a Fulbright Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Chicago in 1987-88. He is a screenwriter, actor and director. He could not attend due to a private engagement.

Khasi: Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih writes poems and short fiction in Khasi and English. He is the author of Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends , A Mid-Ager’s Tale, Time’s Barter: Haiku and Senryu and The Yearning of Seeds. He has co-edited Dancing Earth: An Anthology of Poetry from North East India. His awards include the first Veer Shankar Shah-Raghunath Shah National Award for Literature (2008) and the first North-East Poetry Award (2004). His latest book, The Great Unconventional Elegiac Tradition: A Study of Gray, Arnold, Rilke, the Welsh Hiraeth and the Poetry of the Khasi National Bard, Soso Tham, raises immediate questions about a tradition of lamentation and its place in the North-East, as also about aesthetics within a nationalist tradition. His work has been published in Wasafiri. He could not attend due to an illness.

Malayalam: N S Madhavan is a leading writer of contemporary Malayalam literature. In a long career spanning major writer’s blocks, Madhavan has produced numerous novels, short stories, plays and football columns. His contribution to the short story form is considered unique and noteworthy. They include Chulaimedile Savangal (Corpses of Chulaimed), Higuita (judged best in 100 years of the Malayalam short story), Thiruth (Blue Pencil), Paryaya Kathakal (Stories about Names) and Nilavili (The Cry). His latest novel, Lanthan Batheriyile Luthiniyakal (Litanies of Dutch Battery 2003) was translated by Rajesh Rajmohan in 2011 and awarded the Hindu Literary Prize.

Marathi: Sharankumar Limbale is a dalit activist, writer, editor and critic. His recent autobiography, Akkarmashi (The Outcaste) reveals what it is like to grow up as an impoverished outcaste in modern India. His novel, Hindu (translated by Arun Prabha Mukherjee, Samya 2010) explores the contradictions within individuals and the plight of those who suffer injustice because of gender, physical disabilities as well as reasons other than caste. Towards and Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Considerations is his provocative and thoughtful account of the debates among dalit writers on how dalit literatures should be read, and is the first critical work by a dalit writer to appear in English.

North-East: Mamang Dai is a journalist, author and poet from the North East. Her works include River Poems, Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land and Legends of Pensam. She won the 2003 Verrier Elwin Award from the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh and the 2011 Padma Shri from the Government of India.

Tamil: C S Lakshmi is a Tamil feminist writer and independent researcher in women’s studies. She writes under the pseudonym Ambai. In the 1990s, she worked on two research projects, Illustrated Social History of Women in Tamil Nadu funded by the Ford Foundation and An Idiom of Silence: An Oral History and Pictorial Study sponsored by the Homi J Bhabha Foundation. She is the founding Director of SPARROW (Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women) and a member of the University of Michigan’s Global Feminisms Project. Her Tamil books include Nandimalai Charalilae (1962), Andhi Malai (1967), Sirakal muriyum (1976), Veetin mulaiyil oru camiyalarai (1988), Kaatil Oru Maan (2000) and Varrum eriyin meengal (2007).

Telegu: Gogu Shyamala is a Dalit feminist and Telangana activist who writes captivating short stories about life in rural Andhra Pradesh. She regularly publishes in journals such as Bhumika, Prasthanam, Pratighatana, Mana Telangana, Praja Kala Mandali and Nigha. Her latest collection is Father May be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket, But… (Navayana). She represented Anveshi and Dalit Women’s Forum in the World Conference against Racism held in Durban,2001. She is a member of the Anveshi Executive Committee. Shyamala is  working on a project titled ‘Dalit Women’s Biographies’ (movement perspective of Dalit feminism) which aims to write biographies of Dalit women mainstream political leaders. This project is part of the Dalits and Minorities Initiative.

Urdu: Mahmood Farooqui: is a Delhi-based historian, writer and performer. After graduating from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge as a Rhodes scholar from India, he started his own theatre group called dastak. Over the last five years, he has been working to revive a lost form of story-telling in Urdu called dastangoi. His first book, Besieged: Voices from Delhi 1857 was published by Penguin in 2010. http://dastangoi.blogspot.com.au/

Mr Farooqui was the script C0-writer and Co-director for Aamir Khan’s movie “Peepli Live”!

From the Publishing Side:

R Sivapriya is the Translation Editor with Penguin Books India, the most prominent literary publishing house in the Indian subcontinent.

Mita Kapur is the CEO of Siyahi, a Literary Consultancy, that liaises between writers and multilingual presses. She is also an Organising Member of the Jaipur Writer’s Festival. She could not attend due to an illness.

Some explanations:

1. The Jnanpith Award is the highest literary honour conferred in India.

2. Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan are the highest civilian awards granted by the Government of India, for lifelong achievements.

3. The Sahitya Akademi is the Literature Academy of India and the Sahitya Akademi Awards are the most respected and prestigious literature awards in the country.

4. All of the writers mentioned below have their works available in English translation from reputable Indian publishing houses, some international too.

5. Dalit refers to the tribal, indigenous and aboriginal writers of India.

[With input on writers from Dr Mridula Chakravorty, UWS and others for this Blog]

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/7th Sept, 2012

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http://www.indaus.org.au

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