RIYADH — Unity is necessary among all religions to make India strong and prosperous, said Mohammed Ali Ashraf Fatmi, former minister for human resources development. He was addressing a large gathering of NRIs at a welcoming function of newly elected MLAs of Bihar assembly and his son Dr. Faraz Fatmi. Fatmi said that India is a great nation and its greatness lies in its unity. Unity is India's strength and unity in diversity is the most important feature of India. Though we are Biharis, Maharastrians and Tamilians etc, we are strongly connected as Indian. Regardless of caste or creed, we live together and have good education which also brings a change not only in our lives but also in our communities. He added that education is a power tool to uplift the minorities in India. Fatmi said, "Dalits and Muslims need to be uplifted in India, and I advice NRIs to focus on education. We need to bring change in our community by establishing more and more education institutions. We have to concentrate on this for another 50 years. He gave an example of Hyderabad and Kerala, which have set up their minority colleges. He praised former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said during his tenure as prime minister AMU reopened five of its campuses." Fatmi introduce his son Dr. Faraz Fatmi to the guests and said that this is the third generation of his family in politics and ‘we have a clean image in the constituency and we have not differentiated between any religion, neighbors and people." Chief Guest of the function firebrand leader of Samajwadi Party Abu Asim Azmi, member of legislative assembly in Maharashtra, stressed that we should maintain good relations between all communities and maintain national harmony in India. He added that politics is the powerful tool for minorities and gave an example of Swami Assemanand's statement in court that he is accused for planning terror attacks. Abu Azmi said Gulf NRIs contributions are very important for the development of India as many Indians send hard-earned money to India that helps their family while boosting the national reserves. Dr. Faraz Fatmi, newly elected RJD MLA, also spoke on the occasion and thanked Biharis living in Saudi Arabia for supporting the grand alliance and helping them to win the elections. He said the celebrations in Saudi Arabia echoed in Bihar. He said that grand alliance under the leadership of beloved Chief Minister Nitesh Kumar and deputy chief minister have set up a strong government in Bihar. Faraz said, "Now Bihar government has strong vision and mission for 5 years. About 70% villages will get electricity by 2017, and the government is planning to open more high schools, medical, polytechnic and engineering colleges." He said that law and order is now at zero tolerance, for higher education government is planning to launch a credit card facility with balance of up to four lakh rupees, a grant of thousand rupees for unemployed youth, with focus on improving health and roads sectors in five to ten years, thus enabling the government to fulfill people's basic needs. Faraz became an MLA for the first time in the Bihar Legislative Assembly election held recently. The function was organized by friends of Bihar at Yamama Hotel where large number of Indians attended. These leaders were in Riyadh to attend the marriage and reception of prominent businessman Rahid Ali Sheikh's son Abdullah Rashid Sheikh. Obaid Ur Rahman, chairman, Bihar Foundation welcomed the guests. Mansab Ali Sheikh proposed vote of thanks. Senior journalist K.N. Wasif sketched out the introduction of Dr. Faraz. Dr. Dilnawaz Romi, Suhail Ahmed, president AMOUBA, Syed Munir, Amanullah Khan, Dr. Dilshad Ahmad, MC member IISR, also spoke on this occasion. Prominent businessman Rashid Ali Sheikh thanked the chief guest and guests of honor for attending the function. Bouquets and plaques were also presented to the guests. Earlier Zakir Hussain recited the verses of Holy Qur'an.
