Gopal Krishna Goswami, Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Goswami and Vrajendra Nandana Das met the President of India -Her Excellency Srimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil on the 28th of February at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Gopal Krishna Goswami thanked Srimati Pratibha Patil for being appreciative of ISKCON’s efforts to propagate Krishna Consciousness in Russia and all over the world, and for officially releasing a message detailing this.

He also reminded her of her visit to Moscow and the President of India acknowledged having met a delegation of 25 devotees and children in Russia.

He handed over Mahaprasadam of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi along with a copy of the Krishna Art Book, he also gave her a copy of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is in Russian.

Prior to the presidential meeting, Gopal Krishna Goswami had also met with Shri S. M. Krishna -the External Affairs Minister and his Joint Secretary, as well as Shri Pawan Bansal – Honorable Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, who were also thanked by him for their support on the ban of Gita in Russia.

The ISKCON team was reassured that the Indian Government is extremely vigilant on this issue and is monitoring the developments closely as they unfold.