In 1994, after the enactment of Hungary's Minority Rights legislation (herein the Act), representatives from India rather than Roma themselves were invited to represent the Roma at the signing ceremony, against the request of Roma leaders. During an interview in August 2000, former member of Parliament and Roma leader Aladar Horvath describes the events this way:
[t]hey invited all the representatives of the nationalities, and the representative of the Hungarian Gypsies was someone from India … Antall Jozsef made a speech in which he said he wouldn't prevent that Hungarian Gypsies consider India as a mothercountry, and India considers the Hungarian Gypsies as children. In the Indian Embassy, they didn't say a word, and I said, as a member of Parliament: we very much appreciate this gesture that the politicians made, but thank you very much but that's not really what we want. We have very thin roots in Iridia, but they are much stronger here in Europe and Hungary.