Indians Occupy London Streets For Religion: Bad Sign?

The volume of the Indian population that has been travelling abroad has been going up consistently, and London has been one of the main destinations for the Indian community. But now something detrimental has happened with regard to the Indian population in London.

‎On Sunday, the streets of Lewisham in southeast London witnessed a religious procession affiliated with the London Sivan Kovil temple as part of the annual Hindu chariot festival organized by the Tamil community.

‎Worshippers participated in a procession during which adorned chariots carried religious symbols, while others offered traditional tributes including vessels of milk and incense. Some other participants performed physical devotional rituals as the procession moved along.

The most important part of this procession was that a big section of the Tamil population in London kept rolling on the street, which is a part of the tradition that they follow here in Tamil Nadu.

This is a kind of traditional offering that towards Lord Siva here in Tamil Nadu, but the interesting thing is that they have carried this forward in London streets as well.

‎The event led to the temporary diversion of several bus routes, as part of official traffic arrangements announced in advance for the march.

Videos of Indians rolling on the streets of London out of devotion and religious reasons have gone viral and they have resulted in a wide range of reactions.

Many people are pointing out that it is perfectly understandable if the Indian community follows such a religious practises here in India. But going to London and creating a scene there by stopping the public movement with such activities is not to be acceptable.

But the positive thing here is that the community had taken adequate permission from the concerned authorities for the procession. So this is going to be acceptable for the time being.

But in the future, better social and economic parameters are to be followed at all times to ensure there’s no public outrage as such to this effect.