NEW YORK CITY (TIP): The Consulate General of India in New York, hosted a reception to celebrate the 67th Republic Day of India on January 26, 2016. A large number of guests attended the event. They included, among others, Permanent Representative of India to the United NationsAmbassador Syed Akbaruddin and Consul General of Bangladesh Md. Shameem Ahsan.

For Ambassador Akbaruddin, it was his maiden appearance at a public event. In his brief address, he congratulated Indian Americans on the celebration of the 67thRepublic Day. He said India had made tremendous progress and was poised for moving forward at an accelerated speed. He praised Indian Americans for being “permanent ambassadors” of India to the US and said, in a lighter vein, he was only a temporary ambassador. He said he had to learn much from the experiences of the Indian American community.

Consul GeneralDnyaneswar M. Mulay welcomed the guests to the Republic Day celebrations and highlighted the notable achievements India has made in the past years. Addressing the gathering, he said that the true beauty of India lies in its diversity. He further said that India is a country with collection of different views, cultures, sub-cultures and when we celebrate Republic Day we are actually celebrating this unity in diversity.

Mr. Mulay also took the opportunity to give a brief description of the working of the Consulate. Of the many achievements and the fists, he said the Outreach program launched by the New York Consulate has been very successful and was being emulated by others.

On the occasion, Dr. Manoj Mohapatra, the Deputy Consul General readout excerpts of the President’s message on the eve of the 67th Republic Day of India.

The event concluded with cake cutting ceremony followed by a classical dance performance by Arya Dance Academy of New York.