Grafton raises the flag for India Day
The flag of India flew high, just lower than the Stars and Stripes, at the Municipal Center Saturday morning as Grafton honored its Indian population by celebrating the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
“What a great day to celebrate the Indian independence than by India winning a gold medal,” quipped Srikanth Gomattam, president of the Blackstone Valley India Society, referring to javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic medial, the second gold ever claimed by India.
Grafton was among 40 communities that raised the green, white, and orange Indian flag in tribute to the anniversary, as well as the thriving Indian community in Grafton and Worcester County as a whole. The crowd that gathered before the flagpole in colorful clothing is integrated into town life, with children attending its public schools and members taking on roles in town government.
Select Board Chair Peter Carlson presented a proclamation in honor of the day, recalling how India leaders fought for independence through peaceful civil disobedience.
WHEREAS, India is the largest free democratic country in the world, her beauty and rich cultural heritage are unmatched; and
Select Board Chair Peter Carlson’s Proclamation of India Day in Grafton
WHEREAS, the Indian independence movement was led by patriots like Rani Laxmi Bai, Mahatma Gandhi, C.R Das, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhagat Singh, Maulana Azad, Raja Gopalachari and Sardar Patel, which later became a model of Civil Rights movement around the globe, including the movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S.A; and
WHEREAS, on August 15, 1947, India gained her independence from two hundred years of colonial rule with peaceful civil disobedience and nonviolence. That movement in turn became a new weapon to fight against inequality and injustice in the world.
WHEREAS, the Constituent Assembly of India created a most democratic constitution of its own, taking clues from the British, American and French constitutions; and
WHEREAS, a youthful country celebrating her 75th Independence Day, India has shown an unsurpassed growth in education, health, agriculture, and technology since its independence; and
WHEREAS, India’s Independence Day is celebrated by over 1.3 billion people across the country with flag-hoisting ceremonies, kite-flying, and parades; and
WHEREAS, India has the largest diaspora in the world, with around 18 million Indians living in other countries, with over 2.7 million Indian immigrants residing in the United States, who contribute greatly to the social, economic, and civic health of the nation; and
WHERAS: India is a composite civilization – a nation extraordinarily unique as a cultural mosaic of people embracing a prodigious diversity of ethnic groups, religions, languages, customs, traditions, clothing, manners, food habits, climatic conditions and natural resources,
and yet presenting an underlying unity; and
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Peter Carlson Select Board Chairman of the Town of Grafton do hereby proclaim August 15, 2020 to be:
INDIA DAY
And encourage all residents to join the Indian Community to celebrate/commemorate its 75th Independence Day.
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