Hundreds of participants in the India Day parade Sunday showed their support for an Indian activist staging a hunger strike in New Delhi to demand that Indian lawmakers pass his anti-corruption bill.
"Remove corruption, save India" read signs hoisted by some of the thousands of spectators lining the Madison Avenue route of the biggest Indian parade in the United States.
In New Delhi, activist Anna Hazare vowed Sunday during his sixth day of fasting to carry on indefinitely unless legislation is passed by Aug. 30 creating an anti-corruption watchdog with authority over the judiciary and prime minister's office.
"We feel India now has one of the most corrupt governments ever," said Atul Kumar, an official of the Jersey City, New Jersey-based Bihar Society, a nonprofit group representing people from the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
The annual parade offers a chance for Indian-Americans to display their pride in their country's religious and cultural diversity.
The grand marshal of the 31st annual celebration was star Bollywood actress Rani Mukherji, with honored guests including Indian classical singer Pandit Jasraj and the president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, who is of Indian descent.
Mukherji was mobbed by fans when she arrived for the 10-block parade down Madison Avenue, starting at 38th Street.
"I feel as if I'm in India today!" she shouted out to the crowd — some of at least 200,000 people of Indian origin living in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to U.S. Census figures.
Members of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization were dressed as angels — in white, with wings attached — to proclaim their message of world peace and harmony.
A float bearing a cannon represented another flashpoint in Indian history: violence against the Sikhs, starting with the deaths of 66 Sikhs under 19th century British rule.
The official theme of this year's parade was "My Earth, My Home" — an effort to raise awareness of environmental pollution resulting from India's burgeoning industries.
"India is getting better at going 'green' — with regulations more tightly enforced by the government," said Kurang Shah, executive vice president of the Federation of Indian Associations, a tri-state umbrella group that organized the march.
Last year, Jagdeo was awarded a United Nations "Champions of the Earth" award, the world body's highest honor for environmental leadership.
The president of the South American nation with a large ethnic Indian population told the crowd, "India is alive and well in Guyana."
On Monday, Mukherji is to join Bollywood actor Gulshan Grover and association officials to ring the Nasdaq stock exchange's opening bell in Times Square.