Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and Bollywood actress Vidya Balan were all set to flag off the 33rd India Day parade in New York City on Sunday.
The India Day parade, organised by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), is always a grand affair, complete with colourful floats and marching bands, drawing a large number of New Yorkers to one of the prominent thoroughfares of the city: Madison Avenue. Some 40 floats were to form part of the procession this year, with the proceedings set to kick off around 9.30 pm India time.
Besides Balan, designated Grand Marshal of the event, and Hazare, projected as the face of India’s fight against corruption despite his movement having lost steam over the past many months, the parade features former Army Chief General V.K. Singh as the chief guest, with Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Baldwin Spencer and Tamil acting couple, Radhika and Sarath Kumar, as guests of honour.
Hazare is on a two-week American sojourn, with his enthusiastic band of Indian-American supporters lining up a packed schedule that will take him to several cities including Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco, los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. He will also be visiting South Carolina, where Indian-American governor Nikki Randhawa Haley will host a dinner for him. In New York itself, besides attending the India Day parade, Hazare will also be ringing the ceremonial opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange on Monday and then visit the United Nations headquarters.