From humble to huge: Diwali lights spark new high in Britain

LONDON: More than 40,000 people gathered 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 council that today celebrates Diwali took out an advertisement in Uganda to advise thousands of Indians facing expulsion: “In your own interests and those of your family you should...not come to Leicester.”