United Kingdom: Diwali celebrations in Leicester virtually cancelled; Hindu MP Shivani Raja speaks out | World News

Leicester’s Diwali pageant, as soon as billed as the most important exterior India, might be a shadow of its former self this yr. As a TOI report elucidated, the Labour-run metropolis council has cancelled the fireworks, stage present and Diwali Village on public-safety grounds, leaving solely road lanterns, 6,000 LED lights, a Ferris wheel and a single-night street closure.

Driving the information

The choice follows warnings from a multi-agency Safety Advisory Group that final yr’s file turnout of round 55,000 individuals created near-crush situations, blocked emergency routes and stretched crowd-control measures to breaking level. The group mentioned the prevailing format couldn’t be run safely in 2025.Instead, town will:

Community leaders have criticised the transfer. Vinod Popat of the Hindu Community Organisations Group mentioned Diwali with out fireworks “is like Christmas dinner without turkey.” Leicester East MP Shivani Raja, one of many UK’s few Hindu MPs, has additionally raised the alarm. In a put up on X, she wrote:“Our Diwali celebrations are STILL at risk. Diwali in Leicester is one of the biggest celebrations outside India – and the highlight of our city’s calendar. Yet Leicester City Council now want to limit celebrations, citing safety concerns. That’s why I, alongside Neil O’Brien MP, have written to the Chief Constable to press for solutions. We have to keep our Diwali celebrations safe.”

Why it issues

For many years, Leicester’s Diwali has been a beacon of British-Asian cultural satisfaction, drawing tens of hundreds from throughout the UK and Europe. The pageant has lengthy symbolised each non secular devotion and town’s multicultural identification.

Political stress: MPs and group organisations argue the pageant is being handled in another way from different large-scale occasions such because the Notting Hill Carnival.

The backdrop: Leicester’s fault strains

From lights to a landmarkThe first official Diwali lights had been put in alongside Belgrave Road in the early Eighties. By the 2000s, Leicester’s Diwali was being described as the most important celebration exterior India, with fireworks, meals stalls and cultural performances turning into a staple of the British pageant calendar.The 2022 communal unrestThat picture of concord was shattered in September 2022, when Hindu-Muslim clashes erupted after celebrations of an India-Pakistan cricket match spiralled into violence. Misinformation unfold on-line, claims and counter-claims infected tensions, and Hindu temples had been attacked—saffron flags had been torn down and set alight, sparking outrage in the group.Dozens had been arrested and later convicted for offences starting from affray to religiously aggravated public dysfunction. The UK authorities ordered an unbiased evaluation, warning that Leicester’s repute for multicultural cohesion had been significantly broken.

The scars stay. Just weeks in the past, police opened an investigation into an unauthorised Ganesh Chaturthi automotive procession in Leicester. The Hindu Community Organisations Group accused the Muslim Council of Britain of spiritual hatred after it described saffron flags on the procession as “extremist.” Police mentioned organisers had failed to hunt the required permissions.

Leicester’s Diwali is now on the intersection of tradition, politics and policing:

Closing observeLeicester’s Diwali was as soon as a narrative of sunshine, scale and multicultural confidence. Its curtailment this yr speaks to one thing darker: a metropolis nonetheless nursing outdated wounds, a council squeezed by austerity, and a police power cautious of dangers. For many, the absence of fireworks will really feel symbolic—of a pageant dimmed, and of a group nonetheless ready to see its brightest days return.