Washington: The Sikh community in the US will celebrate the historic swearing-in of Barack Obama as the US President with the first ever Sikh Inaugural Ball in Washington on January 20.

Being held a few blocks away from White House, Sikh Inaugural Ball would honour several Indian-Americans who played important role in the victory of Obama in the November 4 presidential election.

"This is the only community event happening for Obama. This is an occasion for Sikh community to celebrate the victory of Barack Obama," Gurveen Vohra, main organiser of the event, said.

Among those to be felicitated on the occasion are Sonal Shah, who serves on the 15-member Presidential Transition Team; Nick Rathod, National Outreach Director of South Asians for Obama and one of its founding members; and Arti Rai, a professor of patent law at the Duke University and a classmate of Obama at Harvard Law School.

The event would also honour Charmaine Manansala, a Filipina-American immigrant, serves on the Presidential Inaugural Committee. She served as the National Director of the Obama for American AAPI Vote Team.
Source : PTI