
The Oak Tree Business Association of Edison, N.J. along with the Indian Association of New Jersey celebrated India’s 74th Independence Day with Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone as chief guest and Edison Mayor Tom Lankey as guest of honor, as well as Mahesh Bhagia, chairman of Edison Democratic Organization, and TV Asia Chairman Padma Shree H.R. Shah.

Many Indian American community leaders joined the celebration which kicked off with a car parade, a press release from the organizers said. Among those participating were Natu Patel, Bimal Joshi, Raman Shah, Rati Patel, Dipak Shah, Mukund Thakar, Pradip (Peter) Kothari, Colonel Tavatia, Dr, Nimish Shukla, Bobby Bansal, Bhadra Butala, Kaushik Vyas, Uma Swaminathan, Hasmukh Patel, Popat Patel, Sailesh Mehta ( New York Life) Spaceship Patel, Mohin Patel. Also present were Vice President of Edison Township Councilman Samip Joshi, Councilman Joseph Coyle, as well as Rik Mehta, candidate for U.S. Senator were present.
The car parade was followed by Patriotic Songs by Umesh Patel and the Hamid Bhai group. The ‘Flag Hoisting’ ceremony was initiated by Congressman Pallone.

Vegan food was served to all guests catered by Bombay Express , Vegan Cup cakes and Vegan Tea courtesy by H.K Shah of World Vegan Vision .
Dedicated volunteers and media support made the event a success, among them Manish Parikh, Tuhin Pandya, Kunal Joshi, Umesh Trivedi, Kiran Patel, Gunjesh Desai of Masala Junction, Telugu NRI Radio, ITV Gold, TV Asia, Indian Express, India Life TV, Divya Bhaskar. NRI Today, and Radio Mirchi.
The event was coordinated by Nitin Vyas, vice president residential at Int of USA.