Modi agrees to request by Ranju Batra, Ravi Batra.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: It’s a virtual coup: prominent Indian community leader Ranju Batra, who has spearheaded the Diwali Stamp Project for years, and her husband, Ravi Batra, an attorney who has helped the cause of the Indian government and its personnel in many top cases in recent years in local courts here, met with the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, at the United Nations, at the Sustainable Development Summit, on Friday.
It is hard to meet the prime minister, unless one has a prior appointment, and at the United Nations, it’s only the Indian government officials who are in close proximity to him. But the Batras accomplished their goal of not only meeting him, but also apprised him of the Diwali Stamp Project.
The Batras had last year also, accompanied by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), met Modi at a community reception in New York, and apprised him of the project. Ranju Batra is the Chair of the Diwali Stamp Project.
Modi, according to the Batras, agreed to support the project and said that he will write to president Barack Obama on it, seek his help in getting the stamp out.
“Prime Minister Modi recalled the discussion a year ago when he came to New York. Ranju then asked the prime minister to write a letter to President Obama in support of the Diwali Stamp being issued by US Postal Service. PM Modi agreed to do so and said, ‘I will write to President Obama supporting the Diwali Stamp’ and took the note as a reminder,” said Ravi Batra.
The Batras, who have been passionate about the stamp project – to have the United States Postal Service issue a stamp commemorating Diwali – for many years, and spent countless hours in meeting with top Indian and American officials, to keep the issue alive, finally may be able to achieve a breakthrough in their mission.