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Hindus in the United Kingdom have urged the government to grant a bank holiday on Diwali, as the festival was celebrated in the British capital with much fanfare.
"It is now time for us to ask the Government to grant a Diwali Bank Holiday," Anil Bhanot of the Hindu Council UK, said amid loud cheers from a vast gathering in Trafalgar Square on Sunday night.
"Lord Rama's brother, Bharat, waits for Rama's return on Diwali after a 14-year exile from His kingdom but Lord Rama has today stopped by in this great city of London, the modern day centre of the world, to grace us all," Banot said.
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, spoke of the vast diversity in London and how the Greater London Authority led the way in establishing London as a great multicultural city.
Tarlochan Singh Shani from the Shepherds Bush Gurudwara said Diwali was significant for Sikhs as the 4th Guru Ramdas returned home on a Diwali day.
Speaking on the occasion, Veni Lal Vaghela from Hindu Council Brent encouraged the Hindu voters to be active in making the Hindu voice more prominent.
Gauri Das from Bhaktivedanta Manor announced that the International Society of Krishna Consciousness and the I-Foundation have been accepted to open a Hindu school in Harrow and that this would be the first state-funded Hindu school in the UK.