Big show
The two-day Burhani Trade Expo, will be inaugurated today morning at the Gujarat University Exhibition Hall. The expo is part of the 100th birthday celebration of their spiritual leader.
With an eye on a prosperous future, the Dawoodi Bohra community in Gujarat — synonymous with trade and enterprise — has decided to celebrate the 100th birthday of their spiritual leader Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin Saheb in a rather unique way by holding a trade exhibition of the businesses of the community.
And they have on board Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the event. This is one of the major public events of the Bohra community that the CM is attending. The two-day Burhani Trade Expo, which will be inaugurated today morning at the Gujarat University Exhibition Hall, will showcase the businesses of around 150 Bohra community members from around the world across a variety of sectors.
Interestingly, a host of activities are happening as part of the centenary celebrations all around the world, but it is only in Ahmedabad that a trade expo is a part of the celebrations.
“This is a different and positive outlook of the community to improve our business prospects and of course showcase the talent that we have. It may not have an immediate effect, but in the long term, the impact will be tremendous,” said Juzar Kakkai, one of the key organisers of the event.
The invitation to Modi is only one more step ahead in the warm relations that the community and its leaders have shared over the past decade.
According to sources, Modi has reached out to Syedna atleast twice in the recent past - once he had gone to Ahmedabad airport when the spiritual leader was here and in April 2008, soon after he was re-elected to the Gujarat Assembly, Modi went to a mosque where Syedna was delivering a religious discourse.
Like some other Muslim communities, Bohras too claim that the communal violence of 2002 was an event of passion and one should move ahead.
"Gujarat is positive to business and so is the Bohra community," Yusufbhai Saheb, a religious leader of the community said addressing a press conference earlier this week.
"Modi has always been very positive to our community and there is no reason for us to hold on to the past," a source said.
In fact, in January, when a delegation met Modi in Surat, he had invited the community to hold the grand celebrations of Syedna's centenary birthday in Gujarat. The spiritual leader, who has an ardent following in the community worldwide, is a native of Surat and the community has a very strong presence in the diamond city of south Gujarat.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}