Diwali lights spark new high in Leicester

Wednesday 11th October 2017 19:03 EDT
 

More than 40,000 people gathered on Sunday night to mark the beginning of Diwali festivities in Leicester, where the festival had humble origins in the 1950s but has now become mainstream and hailed as one of the east Midlands city's poster events.

Billed as one of the largest Diwali celebrations outside India, the event attracted people from different parts of Britain and from several religions and communities. The arterial Belgrave Road and its environs turn into an Indian district during the two-week festivities.

Sunday’s event was to switch on 6,000 lights along the road, sponsored by the Leicester City Council. It was followed by a prolonged fireworks display as people enjoyed some of the finest Indian cuisine in the UK to the accompaniment of Bollywood music and dance. Another major fireworks display is scheduled for October 19.

The event underscored the distance the city has travelled in the area of immigration and community integration. Immigration from the Indian subcontinent increased after independence in 1947, but reached a new high after Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda in 1972, when many arrived in Leicester.

That year, the same council that today celebrates Diwali took out a newspaper advertisement in Uganda to advise the thousands of Indians facing expulsion that said: “In your own interests and those of your family you should...not come to Leicester.”

A Leicester City Council spokesperson told Hindustan Times that attendance at this year's event was more than 40,000. Festivities included a range of workshops, music, drama, talks and live performances in a specially created “Diwali Village” near Belgrave Road, the hub of Asian business and culture where several Indian banks have branches.

The large gathering at the switch on ceremony was addressed by Leicester mayor Peter Soulsby, Leicester Hindu Festival Council president Maganbhai P Patel and deputy mayor Piara Singh-Clair.

Increasingly seen as a mainstream festival in the UK, major Diwali events are reported and planned in public places in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and other cities. This year, the iconic London Eye will be lit up on October 15 in an event called “Light Up London – Diwali”. 


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