You need $$$ to meet visiting Indian dignitaries
Why should members of the Indian diaspora have to contend with financial barriers if they wish to meet a visiting minister, politician or dignitary from their country of birth?
That is the question topmost in the minds of a number of Kiwi Indians including community leaders.
At the reception organised by the Global Organisation of Persons of Indian Origin (GOPIO), one had to pay up to $40 per person to meet and mingle with the visiting senior Indian minister Kapil Sibal and his entourage. There was no other public function that was organised for the Indian community to meet with the dignitary during his two day Auckland visit.
Auckland Indian Association (AIA) President and newly elected New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA) Vice President Harshad Patel said it was unacceptable that anyone should have to pay to meet visiting dignitaries. “I am totally opposed to it. If a venue was the problem, they could have asked us at AIA – we would have gladly made the premises at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre available free for a public meeting. But nobody asked us,” he said.
Former Labour Party list member and NZICA General Secretary Raj Thandi, also newly elected, said he heard of the meeting only two hours before and so could not attend because he was committed elsewhere.
He also said it was unfair to charge for such meetings and that these should be free for everyone, adding that it was his personal opinion.
But he said, “If the meeting was under NZICA’s aegis, there would absolutely have been no charges for entry. This sort of charging defeats the very purpose of wider public interaction with important dignitaries.”
“The right thing would have been for the Indian High Commission to facilitate a reception such as this one on its own where anyone can meet the visiting entourage at what ought to be a proper public function with free entry,” former general secretary of the NZICA, Veer Khar told Indian Weekender.
“This sort of thing is totally unacceptable. NZICA is the largest Indian organisation and it looks like it is being ignored for whatever reason,” he added.
Mr Thandi also said the organisation wanted to take up these and other matters seriously at the appropriate levels involving all NZICA member organisations, which truly represented different communities of Indian origin in NZ.
“An Indian community organisation, especially one that claims to be global in scope, putting up financial barriers for meeting a visiting Indian ministerial delegation lacks grace and is in poor taste,” one prominent businessman said requesting anonymity. “Contributory dinners maybe fine, but there should have been time allotted for free mingling. You can’t keep people out because they can’t pay.”
GOPIO office bearer Manjit Singh who is also NZICA Treasurer said he did not attend the dinner because he was disappointed: “I thought it was simply unfair to charge,” he said.
National List MP Kanwaljit Bakshi said it was desirable to facilitate the meeting of anyone of Indian origin who wished to meet visiting dignitaries without any strings attached. He however responded with, “no comment” when asked what he felt about organisations charging for such meetings.
Despite Indian Weekender being a leading media outlet catering to Kiwi Indians and the larger Indian diaspora, the publication received no invitation to cover the event in the capacity of a media organisation.
Indian Weekender did not think a news organisation serving the community needed to pay an entry fee to cover a news event – something that is unheard of. Hence there is no coverage of the proceedings of that meeting in this edition.
This paper, though, was duly invited by the New Zealand India Business Council (see report alongside) for an interaction with the minister and his entourage along with a group of Kiwi businesspeople.
And of course there was no fee that we had to pay for attending that meeting for news coverage.
Why should members of the Indian diaspora have to contend with financial barriers if they wish to meet a visiting minister, politician or dignitary from their country of birth?
That is the question topmost in the minds of a number of Kiwi Indians including community leaders.
At the reception...
Why should members of the Indian diaspora have to contend with financial barriers if they wish to meet a visiting minister, politician or dignitary from their country of birth?
That is the question topmost in the minds of a number of Kiwi Indians including community leaders.
At the reception organised by the Global Organisation of Persons of Indian Origin (GOPIO), one had to pay up to $40 per person to meet and mingle with the visiting senior Indian minister Kapil Sibal and his entourage. There was no other public function that was organised for the Indian community to meet with the dignitary during his two day Auckland visit.
Auckland Indian Association (AIA) President and newly elected New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA) Vice President Harshad Patel said it was unacceptable that anyone should have to pay to meet visiting dignitaries. “I am totally opposed to it. If a venue was the problem, they could have asked us at AIA – we would have gladly made the premises at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre available free for a public meeting. But nobody asked us,” he said.
Former Labour Party list member and NZICA General Secretary Raj Thandi, also newly elected, said he heard of the meeting only two hours before and so could not attend because he was committed elsewhere.
He also said it was unfair to charge for such meetings and that these should be free for everyone, adding that it was his personal opinion.
But he said, “If the meeting was under NZICA’s aegis, there would absolutely have been no charges for entry. This sort of charging defeats the very purpose of wider public interaction with important dignitaries.”
“The right thing would have been for the Indian High Commission to facilitate a reception such as this one on its own where anyone can meet the visiting entourage at what ought to be a proper public function with free entry,” former general secretary of the NZICA, Veer Khar told Indian Weekender.
“This sort of thing is totally unacceptable. NZICA is the largest Indian organisation and it looks like it is being ignored for whatever reason,” he added.
Mr Thandi also said the organisation wanted to take up these and other matters seriously at the appropriate levels involving all NZICA member organisations, which truly represented different communities of Indian origin in NZ.
“An Indian community organisation, especially one that claims to be global in scope, putting up financial barriers for meeting a visiting Indian ministerial delegation lacks grace and is in poor taste,” one prominent businessman said requesting anonymity. “Contributory dinners maybe fine, but there should have been time allotted for free mingling. You can’t keep people out because they can’t pay.”
GOPIO office bearer Manjit Singh who is also NZICA Treasurer said he did not attend the dinner because he was disappointed: “I thought it was simply unfair to charge,” he said.
National List MP Kanwaljit Bakshi said it was desirable to facilitate the meeting of anyone of Indian origin who wished to meet visiting dignitaries without any strings attached. He however responded with, “no comment” when asked what he felt about organisations charging for such meetings.
Despite Indian Weekender being a leading media outlet catering to Kiwi Indians and the larger Indian diaspora, the publication received no invitation to cover the event in the capacity of a media organisation.
Indian Weekender did not think a news organisation serving the community needed to pay an entry fee to cover a news event – something that is unheard of. Hence there is no coverage of the proceedings of that meeting in this edition.
This paper, though, was duly invited by the New Zealand India Business Council (see report alongside) for an interaction with the minister and his entourage along with a group of Kiwi businesspeople.
And of course there was no fee that we had to pay for attending that meeting for news coverage.
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