Abdul Hameed Mulky elected president of Karnataka wing of KKMA

Kuwait: State of Karnataka is enriched with Daasa culture, which had contributed immensely to its literature, culture, art & philosophy. Daasa tradition in Karnataka was part of the Bhakti movement which flourished from around 15th century and it extended considerable spiritual influence over the masses. Kuwait Kannada Koota, a socio-cultural association for the people of Karnataka in Kuwait, organized its annual Daasotsava on 14th February 2020 in remembrance of these saints, thereby displaying the rich cultural heritage of the state. 

The program started with a warm welcome address by Mrs. Spoorthy Kamath, convener of cultural committee. Divine invocation prayer by Mrs. Vasantha Ashok and Mrs. Sandhya Arun set the trend for the event. This was followed by lighting of the traditional lamp by the 2020 executive committee, comprising of President Mr. Rajesh Vittal, Vice President Mr. Sandeep Chabba, General Secretary Mr. Praveen Kumar Shetty and Treasurer Mr. Pradeep Rao. President, while welcoming the gathering, spoke about the importance of Daasas in Kannada literature & history and briefed about the series of upcoming programs. Cultural programs started with fancy dress competition by Koota children comprising of all age group starting from infants to elder kids. This program stole the show as the efforts & time invested by children and their parents were clearly visible. 

2019 executive committee was felicitated by the current committee for wonderfully managing Koota affairs & programs. This was followed by the release of Koota magazine “Marala Mallige", comprising of informative articles, drawings, poems etc., entirely contributed by the association members. Event’s main attraction “Vrindavana Leelavarana", a colorful dance drama spectacularly portrayed by 54 Koota children, was very well appreciated & received by the attendees. Association children who successfully completed 10th and 12th were felicitated as a token of encouragement. Executive committee gave away prizes to Kids who excelled in the stage competitions held earlier. Audience was treated to a divine and melodious Bhajan program conducted astutely by the ladies & men. Koota women performed Bhajan Kolata, along with ladies bhajan, in a well-coordinated manner. Vote of thanks was proposed by the secretary of Koota, thanking those who contributed for the success of the event. Another attraction was a quiz competition “Rasa Prashne", conducted efficiently between the programs, by Mr. Mahesh Shiramgond. 

The whole event was planned and executed astutely by the cultural committee under the leadership of Convener, Mrs. Spoorthy Kamath. Public Relations Committee, led by Mrs. Suparna Dambal, welcomed the members in a vibrant & colorful way, showcasing a beautifully erected divine mantap. The event was sponsored by Unimoni, LIC HFL, VSPL, Geetherb, Kotak Life Insurance, Joy Alukkas, Lulu Hypermarket & Total Environment. The program ended with a sumptuous satvik lunch, sponsored by the senior Koota member, Mr. Ramachandran Seetharaman.

The Chairman of Intellectual Council Jeddah, Syed Nasir Khurshid, called for a Zoom meeting on 2nd July, 2020 to celebrate the oath taking ceremony of the D K Shiva Kumar who took over as the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Mr Khurshid opened the meeting with a very enthusiastic and sincere note of congratulations to newly appointed president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr. D.K.Shivakumar.

The chief speaker for the evening was Saleem Khaleefa, vice Chairman of the Council, he said, for more than 4 decades, he is monitoring the politics of the Karnataka state very closely and also monitoring the role of crises management DK Shiva Kumar in the last 2 years, whether it is Rajya Sabha election of Mr. Ahmed Patel or managing the MLAs of Madhya Pradesh. He said, he is one of the best leaders of the party and the best leaders use “their brain, their heart, their soul and their guts.” And his leadership is fit in the size of all these characters. Growth is a very powerful word and fundamentally, party growth is the responsibility of the President and he can take a holistic approach to close the gap between and among the party cadres. 

Every effort is to be made to preserve the sense of unity within the party. We need to unite party base while appealing to voters. He should identify on ground challenges and find the mechanism to address them. He further pointed out that a President’s chief responsibility is to bring all the party leaders and office bearers on the same page with a Mission to bring back the congress party into power in the next assembly election. His smart strategies, road map, mechanism, booth management, better connected with the party workers, taking everyone along with him, will be a direction for the presidents of the party in other states to take party into power.

He pronounced his leadership is totally remarkable and has a track record of his very sensible leadership and he also known for his collaborative and crises management leadership style. Engr. Nasir suggested that his first task is to address the formidable challenges faced by the party and bring the Congress members together, on a very single aspect how to win the election. The party backbone and strength is gross-root workers who can play a significant role to take the party in a very strong and popular position in public. He emphasized that unity is the main strategy and ingredient to win the election, because a party divided will hurt, cannot win the election. Planning is everything and a good planning goes a long way, helping to win the election.  

All the members of the Council expressed their views and everyone is very much hopeful that he is the right person to lead the party from top.He has commanded immense respect from party workers, office bearers, all communities, groups, including opposition parties. He is a very experienced, have immense experience and hard-work leader and he is a strategist and knows the art how to motivate the party workers and unite all in a single rope.

Engr. Amjad Ali said, we are very much confident that he will re-structure from bottom to top, panchyat, taluka and district committees will be re-structured and will induct caliber and talented leaders who can understand and realize their responsibilities and accountability as head of the party at their levels with only one point how to win the coming election with thumping majority.

One of key members of the Council, Sajid Shaikh expressed joyfully that every single member of the party have confidence on the leadership of Mr. D.K Shiva Kumar and his appointment to the top position says a lot of nice things about him.  He has shown his great leadership and expert in crises management on many occasion.  The party in Karnataka is in good hands and I am sure he will sort-out all the difference between and among the party leaders and cadres, which has hurt the party in the last election and will bring all on the same page. Congress party and its workers are lucky to have such a passionate and hardworking president who is ready to work day in and day out to bring party in power in 2023 assembly election.

Prominent members of the Council, Engr. Azher Parvaiz, Engr. Abdul Wahid, Hazrat Qadri, Engr. Abdul Ameed, Saleem Khan, and Rafiuddin Kharadi commented, we looking forward his dynamic and result oriented leadership in organizing and re-shaping the party in the state, he will hold all congressmen together with a noble purpose, motivate every party worker to work with dedication so that congress can come back to power with absolute majority and he can count on our absolute support in booth management as well  suggest a few points to be included in the manifestos, running a high  successful voltage campaign highlighting the failure of the BJP government at the Center and at the state, between and among in the NRIs community across the Gulf Countries, including Europe and America. Council will do the value-based politics and will present the image of the Congress party, as the rational political party, with secular and inclusive, where people of all religions, caste, race and gender, feel wanted in the party, as its main ideology.

Syed Nasir Khurshid thanked entire team for attending the meeting he expressed his gratitude towards Vice Chairman of the council Saleem Khaleefa for speaking as chief speaker and giving updates, he said, team members are excited to meet in person with Mr. D.K. Shiva Kumar, when members visit India during their vacation.

In a humanitarian gesture to help fellow citizens in distress, the first in the series of chartered 
flights arranged by Thumbay Group, UAE and the Bearys Cultural Forum (BCF) Trust, 
Mangalore to repatriate stranded Kannadigas in the UAE took off from Ras Al Khaimah 
International Airport in the wee hours of 21st July 2020. The flight was fully occupied, with 186 passengers, all of them desperate to fly back to India for various reasons.

The initiative was conceived and implemented under the leadership of Dr. Thumbay Moideen - Founder President of Thumbay Group & Founder Patron of BCF and Dr. B K Yusuf, the 
President of BCF. The flight was organized on a purely charitable basis, with all necessary 
steps and precautions in place to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers. Thumbay Group assigned its fleet of buses to transport the passengers free of charge from their residences in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman to the airport. The organizers also provided free meals and refreshments to the passengers, in addition to PPE kits and face-shields distributed free of 
charges.

The passengers on the first flight included many elderly individuals, people with serious 
illnesses like heart-related health issues and diabetes, pregnant ladies and little children as well as people who had lost their jobs and those with expired visas. Dr. B K Yusuf – BCF President, Dr. Kaup Mohammed - BCF General Secretary, other office bearers of BCF, as well as Thumbay Group’s representatives Mr. Farhad C – Director of the Hospitality Division of 
Thumbay Group and Engr. Farwaz P. C. – COO of the Construction Division were present at 
the airport to see off the first group of passengers.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Thumbay Moideen said, “This joint initiative of Thumbay 
Group and BCF is to support our fellow Kannadigas desperate to fly back home. We are happy that we have been able to reach out to many of them, to help them fly home to their families. We thank the Governments of the UAE and India, and the Indian Consulate, Dubai, for their support in making this happen. In the coming days, many more stranded Kannadigas would be repatriated under this joint initiative.”
Dr. B K Yusuf thanked Dr. Thumbay Moideen and the office-bearers and members of BCF for 
their efforts to make the initiative a success.

“We are proud that this initiative has brought relief to many Kannadigas and their families today. BCF is grateful to Thumbay Group for its support and partnership for all our humanitarian programs for the support of the needy.”

Dr. Kaup Mohammed said that it was a matter of pride that the much-awaited Thumbay-BCF 
repatriation flight had been carried out successfully. “Measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the flight and its passengers throughout the journey,” he said. He also thanked all the social organizations including Bhatkal Jamath, BCCI, BWF, KCF, DKSC, Kodagu Kannadigas, 
Kannadiga Help Line, Dubai Konkans and KSS, for their support. He specially thanked Mr. 
Syed Hassan Razeen, the owner of ARISTOCRAT Travels for his support in the ticketing, 
boarding and related processes. On behalf of Milano Optics Group and Maxcare, free gift 
hampers were distributed to selected passengers.

The passengers were received at Mangalore airport under the leadership of Mr. Mumtaz Ali - patron of BCF and other distinguished personalities of Mangalore including Mr. Moidin Bava - former MLA, Mr U. T. Ifthikhar, Mr. S. M. R Rashid - President of BCCI central committee and many others. The passengers were transferred to the hotels where they had registered for the mandatory quarantine.

The second flight under this joint initiative is scheduled to take-off from Ras Al Khaimah airport to Mangalore on 24th July 2020. A few more similar repatriation flights are to soon follow, in the coming weeks.