The Indian Weekender’s Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame cemented its position of being the biggest formal event of the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.
The award night held on Thursday, June 8, at the Langham Hotel in Auckland brought together representation from all major community organisations, businesses and the biggest who’s who in the political circles of New Zealand and special guests from India to acknowledge the achievements of the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.
This year, the community has come together to confer Kiwi-Indian Young Achiever award, Kiwi-Indian Community Excellence Award and the coveted Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame inductee for 2017 to Shail Kaushal, Thakor Parbhu Singh and Sukhi Turner respectively.
The scene could not have been bigger and better to recognise the greatest trailblazers of the Indian community in New Zealand.
About 650 people attended the event and jam-packed in The Great Room at The Langham, which is undoubtedly Auckland’s most upmarket venue.
Every single guest was able to enjoy an exclusive red carpet reception at the event with flashing cameras, thus making them feel like a celebrity.
The event kept its promise of elevating the glamour and entertainment quotient of this annual event to a higher level with performances from Bollywood heartthrob singers Armaan and Amaal Malik and another seasoned stand-up comedian from India, Amit Tandon.
Several talented locals also formed an integral part of the entertainment package of the evening that kept all of the guests glued to their seats with many longing for more towards the end of the event.
One of the major additions to this year’s Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame was a dazzling audio-visual display on the giant screens behind the main stage, creating the feel of a top class event comparable to any world class event.
However, the single biggest thing that had transformed the profile of the event was enhanced commitment from local community organisations, the New Zealand government, the Labour Party as the country’s main opposition party, the Mayor of Auckland and above and beyond all the Indian government toward the Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame Honours 2017.
The event had representation from all major community organisations, namely NZICA, Auckland Indian Association, Indian Association of NZ, Shanti Niwas, Gandhi Niwas, Telangana Association, Auckland Tamil Association, Auckland Marathi Association, Bhartiya Samaj, Auckland Sikh Society, Hindu Council, Punjabi Cultural Association and many others.
As has been the tradition with all the previous four events attended by the country’s Prime Minister, as the chief guest, this year it was Prime Minister Bill English who honoured the event as chief guest. However, this year the government’s commitment to the event was taken to the next level with a number of Ministers and MPs also present.
Ministers Simon Bridges, Jonathan Coleman, Paul Goldsmith and Mark Mitchell were present along with MPs Jamie-Lee Ross, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Parmjeet Parmar.
The fact that the Prime Minister Bill English himself acknowledged this fact from the dais while speaking at the event is a testimony to the government’s commitment to the event.
“I don’t know Bhav [Dhillon], how you managed to get so many Ministers and MPs under one single roof when I struggle to do that,” Mr English commented light-heartedly to acknowledge the presence of fellow parliamentarians.
Not to be left behind, the Labour Party, the country’s main opposition party was also present with a battery of parliamentarians and representatives led by Labour Leader Andrew Little himself signalling their commitment to Indian community’s biggest formal event in New Zealand.
Labour’s parliamentarian representation included Phil Twyford, Michael Wood, Louisa Wall along with Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who is soon destined to be the first Kiwi-Indian MP in the Labour caucus.
Mahesh Bindra of New Zealand First and Barry Coates of the Green party ensured that representation from other political parties of New Zealand was also present in the event.
Indeed, the star attraction of the evening was Indian Union Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. V. K. Singh who visited the country exclusively for this event thus raising the profile of this premium diaspora event up high in Indian government’s calendar of global diaspora events around the world.
It is important to note that the current Indian government has upped the ante on reaching out to the global Indian diaspora in an unprecedented manner and for some strange reasons Indian diaspora in New Zealand has largely remained absent from that spotlight.
This year Indian Weekender’s Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame honours have finally bridged that long felt gap in realising aspirations of the Indian diaspora in New Zealand of being acknowledged by the top echelons of the Indian government.
In this regard, the role of Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand, Sanjeev Kohli, also has to be acknowledged for playing an instrumental role in augmenting the role of the Indian diaspora in further deepening of bilateral relations between New Zealand and India.
The relations have never been better and Indian diaspora in New Zealand has never felt so elevated with recognition from the Indian government and Mr Kohli can take a big credit for this huge transformation.
Speaking to Indian Weekender about the High Commission’s commitment to the Indian diaspora in New Zealand Mr Kohli said, “I will say that the relationship between the high commission and the diaspora is a mutually enforcing one. Our respective strengths complement each other and we are hugely proud of being in a position to serve our community.”
General V. K. Singh’s comment from stage reiterating Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark that New Delhi must look beyond the ‘colour of the passport’ to ‘blood relationships’ that applies to all of the diaspora was a demonstration of Indian government’s commitment to highest order to the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.
Indian Weekender has succeeded in making this event a truly global platform with high political participation from both NZ and India, which once institutionalised has the potential to become a key platform to facilitate bilateral relations between the two countries.
The guests and esteemed dignitaries present on the occasion were kind and lavish in their praise about the transformed nature of this event.
Speaking with Indian Weekender, Labour Leader Andrew Little after the end of the event said “I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the Indian Weekender’s Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame honours.
“A brilliant night.”
Last but not the least, this community endeavour was proudly supported by several businesses, both within the community and outside, who chose to come together on this common platform of Indian Weekender’s signature event to facilitate the manifestation of Indian community’s greatest aspirations – celebrating the success of greatest among them.
The list of businesses that supported this event is long and illustrious.
However, to name a few, John Andrew Mazda, Southern Institute of Technology, Sovereign, Singapore Airlines, Barfoot & Thompson, Spark, The Fund Master, The New India Insurance, Relianz Travel, Aims Global Immigration, Reliance Ventilation and Orbit Remit were generous in their support to this biggest formal event of Indian community in New Zealand and had to be duly acknowledged.
Expressing satisfaction about the event, Indian Weekender publisher Bhav Dhillon said, “We are happy with the fact that we were able to keep our promise of taking this event to the next level, and in the process raising the benchmark for ourselves for the next year.”
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