Students from Indian schools sang the national anthem on the occasion. Flag hoisting ceremonies were also held at various Indian schools in the country.
Addressing the gathering, ambassador Kumaran highlighted India’s progress in the modern era and the achievements so far. "It is a great occasion for celebration and recollecting the progress the country has made in the past decades.We also have to think of the responsibilities and duties to our nation and work hard to overcome the challenges and realise the goals of the nation,” he said.
Ambassador Kumaran hoists the Indian National Flag
During his address, the envoy also read out - both in English and Hindi - highlights of the message of the President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
“Nation building is a grand project. But it is also the compilation of a million – rather, a billion – smaller projects, each as sacred as the other. Nation building is also about building a family, building a neighbourhood, building a community, building an enterprise, building an institution and building society,” the President said in his message.
“And of course, the highest stage of India’s nation building project is to contribute to building a better world – a composite and cohesive world, a world at peace with itself and at peace with nature. This is the ideal of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam– of the World being One Family. It is an ideal that may sound impractical in today’s times of tensions and of terrorism. But it is an ideal that has inspired India for thousands of years – and that ideal can be felt in the very texture of our constitutional values,” Kovind noted.
“The principles of compassion, of assisting those in need, of building capacities of our neighbours, or even of those further away, underpin our society. These are the very principles that we bring to the international community,” added Kovind.
Following the envoy’s address, there were a number of popular patriotic songs rendered by the Indian school students and the crowd joined them with loud cheers. The students were presented with gifts by the ambassador's wife Ritu Kumaran, who appreciated the efforts of the students as well as the teachers who trained them. Ambassador and his wife along with several children cut a cake at the event to mark the occasion.
Children sing a patriotic song (Below)
A section of the gathering looks on as ambassador Kumaran speaks
The Indian community in Qatar celebrated the 69th Republic Day of their country with pomp and patriotic fervour on Friday. At the Indian embassy premises in Doha's West Bay, ambassador P Kumaran hoisted the National Flag in the presence of several hundreds of community members.
