Author: Rashmee Z Ahmed
Publication: The Times of India
Date: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=26982116&sType=1
URL: November 1, 2002
In what they hope will be the most
auspicious new political season of them all, hundreds of British Hindus
took agarbattis, diyas, sweets and the spirit of Diwali for the first time
ever into the UK's Victorian houses of Parliament, only to be rebuked by
a leading government minister for political apathy.
With his mouth full of mithai, Home
Secretary David Blunkett chided Britain's Hindus for "not voting very much,
for any party", a criticism commentators said could imply an insularity
and self-centredness at the heart of one of the richest immigrant communities
in Britain today.
Leading community leaders privately
admitted Blunkett was right, but emphasised that change was in the air
and Diwali's arrival in parliament was symbolic.
Britain's largest Hindu students
organisation said Blunkett's remarks came as they planned to launch a massive
campaign to get Hindus elected as local politicians.
On being asked for statistics by
this paper, Blunkett's office said he had meant voting apathy in general.
Analysts said the rebuke, by the
most senior of the 100 British serving MPs and politicians present at
Westminster's first 'festival of
lights' late on Thursday, summed up the predicament of Britain's roughly
500,000-strong Hindu community - prosperity without political clout.
It was arguably one of the reasons
Diwali had finally arrived at Westminster more than 30 years after sizeable
numbers of Indians got here from east Africa.
Diwali's main parliamentary sponsor,
MP Keith Vaz, who is of Goan origin, told TNN the event was "remarkable.
There have been many Eid celebrations at Westminster, but never Diwali".
Harish Dabasia, committee member
of the largest temple outside India, the magnificent Swaminarayan Mandir
in, Neasden, north London, added, "This is a big deal for us. As citizens
of this country we are governed by this House. We want this House to know
our culture and values".
It will raise political awareness
among Hindus, said Sreyan Diwani, 22, general secretary of the National
Hindu Students Forum.
Dabasia, who himself unsuccessfully
contested a local election for the first time this year, agreed. "Some
47 per cent of the mainstream British electorate goes to vote, but Hindu
voting figures are about 10 per cent lower".
Blunkett's criticism, which were
the only fireworks around in the safety-conscious British parliament, came
as prominent Indo-phile British MPs and those with Indian-dominated constituencies,
lit diyas and chanted "Om shanti, shanti".
MP Piara Singh Khabra from Punjab
said Diwali had come to a building that symbolised colonial rule.
This then was the triumph of light
over darkness, but UK Hindus' politics remained the grey area.
