Political leaders should note significance of Diwali, says G P Hnduja

Leading NRI entrepreneur G P Hinduja, Co-Chairman of the Hinduja Group, has said that political leaders should note the significance of Diwali and Lord Rama's message of peace and understanding which continues to be relevance and pertinent today.

He said this while speaking at the Hindujas' annual Diwali celebrations at the residence of Hindujas attended by over 450 people including peers, MPs, top business leaders and over 30 ambassadors and diplomats.

According to a statement issued by Hindujas on Wednesday, a cross section of politicians including former Cabinet ministers Phillip Hammond and Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahalvi, Minister of state at the Department of Business and until recently the leader of Liberal Democrats Sir Vince Cable were present.

Also present were Lord Mayor of London Peter Estlin and Indian-origin Assistant Commissioner of Metropolitan Police Neil Basu.

Representing the government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Lord Tariq Ahmed, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office remembered Mahatma Gandhi whom he described as one of his personal heroes.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan highlighted that there were more than half a million Hindus in London which is more than the rest of Britain put together and in excess of the population of the same faith in other European countries.

In his welcome address, Hinduja said: "My father always believed money is nothing in life. It is the friends and the relationships that is the real wealth of a human being".

"Political leaders should note the significance of Diwali, the Festival of Lights celebrating Lord Rama and the victory of good over evil and how his message of peace and understanding continues to be relevance and pertinent today," he said.

The Hindujas Annual Diwali celebration dates back to when they moved their operations to London in 1979 on leaving Iran following the fall of the Shah.

Among those who attended the Hindujas Diwali celebrations included then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.