Lara Dutta is Miss Universe

NICOSIA, MAY 13. The 21-year-old Indian model, Ms. Lara Dutta, who said beauty pageants give women a platform to ``voice our choices and opinions'', was named Miss Universe 2000 today.

Ms. Dutta succeeded Ms. Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana to become the 49th winner of the pageant. She said it was a birthday present to her father, a retired Indian Air Force Pilot, who turned 60 today.

Ms. Claudia Moreno, 22, of Venezuela was second, and Ms. Helen Lindes, 18, of Spain was third.

``It is going to take a while to sink in. It is a wonderful and incredible, exhilarating feeling,'' Ms. Dutta told reporters after the pre-dawn extravaganza.

Ms. Dutta, who holds a master's degree in communications, from St Xaviers College, Bombay, topped 78 other contestants who had competed during the last three weeks in Cyprus.

Ms. Dutta won impressing the judges with an answer to the final question: What would you say to those who condemn the contest as an affront to women?

``Pageants such as the Miss Universe give us young women a platform to foray in the fields that we want to and forge ahead, be it entrepreneurship, be it the armed forces, be it

politics,'' Ms. Dutta responded. ``It gives us a platform to voice our choices and opinions and it makes us strong and independent that we are today.''

The judges said Ms. Dutta was a near-unanimous choice.

Protests

While the pageant was being held in a sports stadium, about 100 people, mostly women in their 50s and 60s, held an all-night protest vigil at a nearby hilltop church.

The Cypriot Church has condemned the pageant as unchristian and an insult to women.

About 50 demonstrators also gathered outside the pageant venue on Friday during a dress rehearsal. Ms. Dutta said when she saw the protesters, she had a feeling that the final question was going to be about it.

PM's message

The Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, today congratulated Ms. Lara Dutta.``I wish to congratulate you on your winning the Miss Universe contest. Your success is a tribute to the Indian woman and her aspirations for excellence,'' Mr. Vajpayee said in a felicitation message.

- PTI

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