A Night That Will Not Be Forgotten

The NZICA Centenary Curtain Raiser at Cordis Auckland was more than an event. It was a hundred years arriving, all at once, in one room.

By Zealandia News Editorial Desk | Auckland, New Zealand | 1 March 2026

There are evenings in the life of a community that resist ordinary language. The NZICA Centenary Curtain Raiser, held on Saturday, 28 February 2026, at the Cordis Hotel Auckland, was one of them. More than 600 people filled one of Auckland’s grandest ballrooms: descendants of Punjabi dairy farmers and Gujarati hawkers, doctors and lawyers, MPs and mayors, diplomats and students — all carrying a century of accumulated history between them.

Our Exclusive Article on NZICA at 100: https://zealandia.news/a-hundred-years-of-standing-tall-nzica-at-the-century-mark/

The New Zealand Indian Central Association was founded in 1926 not as a celebration, but as an act of survival. A small group of Indian community leaders, facing discriminatory immigration laws, the White New Zealand League at the height of its influence, and the daily indignities of social exclusion, formed a single national voice. That voice has not been silenced in a hundred years.

On this one evening, that same voice filled a luxury ballroom in central Auckland and welcomed the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Minister for Ethnic Communities, the Mayor of Auckland, the High Commissioner of India, the Secretary South of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and the Race Relations Commissioner — all at once, in tribute to what a community can build across a century.

“You started in an era when you weren’t always welcome and chose to build, and to give, and to stay. And today there are 185,000 Aucklanders of Indian origin and I am so proud to be part of you.” — Mayor Wayne Brown, Auckland

From Diya to Diplomacy

The evening opened with the lighting of the diya — performed by Sir Anand Satyanand, Dame Ranjna Patel, H.E. Neeta Bhushan, Dr. Nina Malhotra of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and NZICA President Veer Khar — and closed with a live qawwali by Kapil Bhagat that reduced a full ballroom to reverential silence.

Between those two bookends lay nearly three hours of history: the world premiere preview of the centenary documentary Thank You New Zealand; addresses from six platform speakers including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who flew directly from Queenstown to be present; the felicitation of twenty NZICA Life Members, personally acknowledged by the Prime Minister himself; a specially composed karakia from the Human Rights Commission; the international debut of wearable sculptor Sheetol Chawla’s Black Lioness collection; and the recognition of eighteen High Achievers spanning the judiciary, politics, sport, philanthropy, and media.

“You have enriched our country economically, socially, culturally beyond note. We wouldn’t be the New Zealand we are today without our strong Indian New Zealand community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” — Prime Minister Christopher Luxon

One Hundred Years in One Room

To hold this evening in full view, it helps to hold two images at once. The first is from 1926: a group of fruit hawkers and market gardeners, gathering in the shadow of legislation that barred them from hotel bars and cinema balconies, forming an organisation because they had no other option. The second is from 2026: six hundred people in a five-star ballroom, being addressed by the Prime Minister, applauded by the Race Relations Commissioner, and blessed with a karakia composed for them by the Human Rights Commission.

Between those two images lies the full meaning of NZICA’s centenary. And between those pages lies our full report of the evening that brought them together.

The Evening at a Glance

Category	Detail
Date	Saturday, 28 February 2026
Venue	Cordis Hotel Auckland
Attendance	600+ (Sellout)
Platform Speakers	8, including PM Luxon and FM Peters
Life Members Felicitated	20
High Achievers Recognised	18 across 7+ disciplines
Branch Presidents on Stage	21 from across New Zealand
Documentary Footage	14 hours filmed; 80-minute final cut
Karakia	Specially composed by the Human Rights Commission
India–NZ FTA	Concluded in record time: 9 months

What Happens Next

The Centenary Curtain Raiser was, as President Veer Khar made clear, a beginning — not an end. A full year of centenary programming will unfold across Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and regional centres throughout 2026. The India–New Zealand Sporting Unity events, the full centenary documentary, and NZICA’s programme of formal historical acknowledgement are all ahead.

Zealandia News will be there for all of it. We have been there for this community’s story — and we will continue to tell it.

“When a tradition has gathered enough strength to go on for a century, it cannot be turned off in one day. The future depends on what we do in the present.” — Sir Anand Satyanand, Former Governor-General, quoting Mahatma Gandhi

Read the Full Special Event Report

Zealandia News has published a complete 20-section special report on the NZICA Centenary Curtain Raiser, covering every speech, every performance, and every moment of the evening in full.

Full text of all eight platform addresses
Complete Life Members Roll of Honour
Full High Achievers recognition list
All 21 Branch Presidents and their associations
Full event statistics and Roll of Honour

View the Photo Gallery

Hundreds of photographs from the evening — the diya lighting, platform addresses, Life Member felicitations, Black Lioness showcase, cultural performances, and more — are available in the Zealandia News Centenary Gallery.