BKS elections held, Pillai elected President for a third consecutive term unopposed

One of the Malayali Expatriates Associations in Bahrain, ‘The Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam’ held its elections to choose office bearers for the upcoming term.

The Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam has elected P.V. Radhakrishna Pillai as their president for a third consecutive term. This time, the election was unanimous where no opposition was proposed. The Indian expat community living in the island of Bahrain see this as a recognition to the exemplary services Pillai has contributed to the Indian Community.

The BKS, celebrates its 75^th year of existence. It has its own premises with state-of-art facilities and is one of the largest Indian Community Centre in the entire Gulf region promoting numerous endeavours including socio-cultural initiatives.

Pillai’s strong involvement is evident in each of the initiatives BKS has taken up.

From the building project to cultural celebrations and awards acknowledging talented individuals to setting up welfare funds, has won him accolades. His initiatives to promote cultural traditions of India by bringing Indian art, music, dance, theatre & cinema to the expatriates and natives of Bahrain are truly remarkable.

Indo-Bahrain fest is been recently announced, to celebrate 75 years of Indian Independence. The fest scheduled to be held from 4th of May to 14th of May 2022 at BKS DJ Hall. Prominent exponents of the Indian Classical Musical and Dance will be performing during the fest.

“The 11-day- long event is hailed to be the one of its kind the whole Middle East has ever witnessed,” said the organisers.

BKS’s numerous humanitarian and charity initiatives under the leadership of Pillai has reflected well on the Indian Community living in the Kingdom of Bahrain. BKS, through its ongoing ‘Home for the homeless’ programme initiated in 2018, was able to successfully build and hand over 27 brand new houses for the needy and poor in India. The charity initiatives during the initial phase of the Global Pandemic, COVID-19 received applauses from round the globe. BKS was instrumental in offering 27 chartered repatriation flights for the stranded, jobless and for those who were critically in need. During this operation, BKS could also offer free air tickets to 500+ less fortunate people. Five inbound chartered flights from India were offered to help those helpless people who were in the fear of losing their job as all commercial airlines had grounded their fleet.

Pillai responded spontaneously to the call for help from both central and state governments in India. The calls for Oxygen cylinders were answered promptly and received a special mention and applause from the Chief Minister of Kerala. Pillai has made significant contributions to the welfare of Indians working abroad, working tirelessly and selflessly for innumerable social causes. This has included working for the people during amnesty periods, rehabilitation of overseas Indians and collection of funds for those affected by natural calamities. His personal relations with politicians and bureaucrats of all walks along with his vibrant personality and the respect he earned from the general public as a philanthropist has helped him a lot to achieve.

Pillai was awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour given to an NRI by the Govt. of India in 2012 for his outstanding contributions to the Indian community in the field of education and community services..

Pillai, an Electrical Engineer by profession works with the Ministry of Electricity & Water in Bahrain since 1992. Pillai has been playing a leading role in various socio-cultural and educational initiatives in Bahrain for the past two decades. He has held many prestigious positions including the Chair of various Indian Community Organizations. Some of them are, Chairman of the Indian School Bahrain, which is one of the largest schools in the Gulf regions with a strength of more than 13,000 students. The President, Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam, Kerala Engineers Forum (Keen4), Soorya Bahrain Chapter, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademy Bahrain Chapter etc. 

“In short, he is a visionary, educationist, philanthropist and a proven leader who has dedicated a major part of his life for the welfare of the Indian Community and general public. The Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam is expected to scale to soaring heights under his continuing leadership”, said Sudheer Thirunilath, Indian Diaspora Ambassador, Bahrain.