America
Former Defence Minister A.K. Antony celebrates his 75th Birthday in Chicago
Former Defence Minister of India Shri. A. K. Antony celebrated his 75th birthday with members of Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, Midwest Chapter at a meeting held in Chicago on 27th of December. Mr. Antony was visiting U.S. for a medical checkup and was given a clean bill of health at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth and son Anil during the trip. It was not lost on the minds of everyone who gathered there that Indian National Congress was also formed on the same day, 131 years ago.
In a meeting organized by the Midwest wing of the
Kerala Chapter of INOC, USA, Mr. Antony praised the non-resident Indians for
their commitment to their ancestral land and encouraged them to continue to
build bridges between these two democracies. He also lauded the Indian
community for being good ambassadors who are making India proud.
The meeting was also attended by Shri. Ramesh
Chennithala, Home minister of Kerala who has accompanied Mr. Antony to U.S. Mr.
Chennithala assured an audience that primarily consisting of Malayalees that a new NRI commission has been created by
Kerala with a mandate to make recommendations to resolve various issues that
are affecting the NRIs worldwide.
The meeting was presided over by Mr. Augustin
Karimkutty, President of the Midwest Chapter in Chicago and number of the
speakers included former Presidents Satheesan Nair and Thomas Mathew, General
Secretary Thampy Mathew, Vice-President George Panicker, Secretary George
Vallikulam and Babu Mathew.
Earlier, INOC, USA Chairman George Abraham, President Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian and
Kerala Chapter President R. Jayachandran have sent their greetings and best
wishes to Shri. A. K. Antony.
Many community leaders from the Midwest have also participated
in the discussions that included Mariamma Pillai (former FOKANA President),
Herald Figuroa, Josy Kurisinkal, K.M. Eapen (Managing Editor, Kerala Express),
members of the Board Pratheesh Thomas, Tomin Thomas, Benny Parimanam, Saji
Kurian, Joseph Nazhiampara, Easo Varghese, Jose Chamakkala, Cyriac, Jose
George, Jose Chennikara (Sangamam), Sunny Vallikulam (Chicago Malayalee
Association), John Elakkatt, Mercy Kuriakose (Nurse’s Association), Jose Antony
and Basil Periera.
Santhosh Nair was the Emcee for the evening.