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Doha, Aug 21: Cultural celebrations depicting the freedom struggle of India with drama, skits, dances and songs were showcased before a large crowd by Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) at Al Wakrah Sports Club. The celebrations were to commemorate the 71st Independence Day of India, which was on August 15. The programmes were presented by Indian schools, affiliated organizations of ICC.Highlights of the programmes were the life of Tipu Sultan, who fought against the colonial rule back then, the Azadi movement of India, Quit India movement, Jallianwalah Bagh massacre and memories, brave hearts of Bengali freedom fighters, unsung hero of Bhima from Telangana and a special programme on women freedom fighters. Different patriotic songs and dances also made the event very colorful and awe inspiring. A large number of blue collar workers were present during the function and they too presented programmes during the event.

The programme began with the opening message by ICC general secretary Juttas Paul, while ICC president Milan Arun welcomed the audience. Milan Arun appreciated the efforts of all Indian community members for joining together to celebrate the event and for working together for many months to showcase such an event.

Ambassador of India to Qatar P Kumaran was the chief guest of the evening. He remembered the freedom struggle and enriched the audience with a message on the history of freedom struggle. He spoke of the deep-rooted ties that India and Qatar have shared for many years and the recent high-level visit between the two countries. He also appreciated ICC for organizing and conducting such an event.

Col Ghanim Saad Al Khayarin, head of external branches community policing from the Ministry of Interior was the guest of honour and congratulated the Indian community on the occasion. General secretary of Qatar Football Association Mansour Al Ansari also spoke. He appreciated the contribution of the Indian community in Qatar and expressed gratitude to the community for the support being provided for the development of Qatar. He congratulated everyone on the occasion of India’s 71st Independence Day. C K Krishnan, chief, wholesale banking of Doha Bank and Manar Khalifa Almuraikh, director (PR and corporate communications) of Ooredoo also spoke during the function.

Winners of different competitions were awarded prizes. Ambassador P Kumaran and Annie Varghese presented the prizes for the top scorers of this year in science and commerce streams of CBSE exams in Qatar with the ICC-K C Varghese memorial awards. The winners of these awards were Thansiha Abdul Gafoor of MES Indian School in commerce stream and Anugraha Arun Puthenpura of Doha Modern Indian School, Mariam Mohamed Ali of MES Indian School and Param Kartikkumar Thakker of DPS-MIS in science stream.

Dimple Verma and B Shri Shankari, slogan competition winners of ICC, which was conducted to mark World Environment Day were also awarded with special prizes. In order to mark the 71st Independence Day, essay and poetry competitions were conducted and winners of the same were awarded prizes during the function. The winners were Kishore Venkateshan for essay and Devendra Mishra for poetry. Girish Jain, head of finance of ICC conducted the prize distribution ceremony.

Souvenir to mark the memories of the Independence Day programme and ICC news of recent past was released by Ambassador P Kumaran and the dignitaries. ICC joint secretary Raja Vijayan conducted the event.

The major highlight of the event was that there was large participation from blue collar workers and special arrangements were made in coordination with different companies to ensure their participation. Cultural programme from blue collar workers were also included in the event. The programmes were selected from the shortlisted applicants from many affiliated organizations. The organizations which conducted the programme included Bhavans Cultural Centre, KMCA, ICC students, Karanataka Sangha Qatar, Bangiya Parishad Qatar, Sanskriti, Tulu Koota, Birla Public School, Indian Women’s Association, Telangana Praja Samithi, Manglore Cultural Association and Galfar Al Misnad,different cultural activities that included dances, skits, songs among other programmes.

Nisha Shivaram and Sudhir Gupta were the comperes of the event.

The programmes were coordinated by ICC managing committee members A P Manikantan, Juttas Paul, Anjan Ganguly, K S Prasad, Niyaz Ahmed, Girish Jain, Adv Jaffar Khan M, Dr Nayna Wagh, Vishal Mehta, Sriraja Vijayan, supported by sub-committees with members from the Indian community and other leaders of affiliated organizations.

The event was supported by Doha Bank as main sponsor, Ooredoo as Telecommunication Partner, Lulu and Qatar Shell as co-sponsors, Qatar UAExchange as associate sponsor. Also Al Dar for Exchange Works, Teyseer Motors, Petrotec, NSH and Muhibbah as support sponsors for the event.

Ooredoo was one of the sponsors of the 71st Indian Independence Day celebrations held at Al Wakrah Sports Club on Friday.The sponsorship is part of Ooredoo’s longstanding partnership with the Indian Cultural Centre in Qatar.The evening event was a colourful celebration showcasing and promoting the diverse Indian culture in Qatar.Manar Khalifa al-Muraikhi, director for Public Relations and Corporate Communications at Ooredoo, said: “Ooredoo is proud to once again support an event that encourages diversity and showcases the amazing culture of India.“We hope everyone who attended had a great time and wish all Indian expats in Qatar a happy Independence Day.”

The proclaimed objective of ICC includes promoting the rich Indian culture among Qatari nationals and expatriates of all other nationalities living in Qatar.

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