For the recent visit to Brussels by the Prime Minister of India, the Honourable Shri Narendra Modi, we negotiated with the Indian Embassy in Belgium to meet with the Prime Minister and air issues faced by Hindus in Belgium and Europe. This we felt appropriate as over 50% of the Hindus in Europe are either Non Resident Indians (NRIs) or People of Indian Origin (PIOs).

The embassy asked for briefings on each organisation, and a list of the delegates with the profile of each delegate. The briefings were supplied along with details of the following five delegates.

Radj Bhondoe, President HFE, President Emeritus of the Hindu Council of Holland

Sodeo Chunivan, Founder Member and currently President HFBe

Malati Devi Dasi, Member of the Belgian Council of Religious Leaders vice-president of Radha Desh

Hrdaya Caitanya Das, founder member of the HFBe, former member of the Belgian Council of Religious Leaders and president emeritus of Radhadesh

Bharti Tailor, Executive Director to HFE & HFBe, President Emeritus HFE, and, Member European Council of Religious Leaders

Sadly, the meeting did not take place due to the restriction of time, we were told. However, we were introduced to the Hon. Shri Modi individually during a photo call. During the photo call, Ms Tailor addressed the Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his native language of Gujarati, and urged him to read the papers prepared for him by the delegation.

The negotiation with the Embassy were undertaken by the secretary of HFE and HFBe Mahaprabhu das and, Malati Devi Dasi respectively, we thank them for their efforts and we thank the Ambassador HE Manjiv Puri, and the Embassy staff for their kind and courteous interaction.