Messages of Support

Nick Low

Deputy High Commissioner – East & Northeast India British Deputy High Commission Kolkata

It is always an immense pleasure and honour for me to be asked to write a message for London Sharad Utsav. I’m grateful to Bengal Heritage Foundation and London Sharad Utsav for inviting me to do so. I’m humbled. Last year I looked forward to a better 2022. After the terrible toll of the pandemic, it was what we all wanted and what we all deserved. Sadly, 2022 has not been the year that we would have wished. The war in Ukraine has unleashed suffering the like of which we have not seen in Europe for eighty years. Inflation has risen to a level that many of you reading this will not have seen before. Families across the country are counting the cost. In addition, we have lost our beloved Queen. Her Majesty ’s death is a collective experience of sorrow, reflection and thanksgiving the like of which I have not witnessed in my lifetime. But it also feels very personal. I didn’t know Her Majesty but She was ever-present, a part of the architecture of my life that I have only truly realised now that She is gone. And, as l’m sure it has for many of you, Her passing has brought back the memory and pain of bereavement that I have suffered. So, why have I begun with such gloom? Because Durga Puja is what we need now. And the spirit of Durga Puja is what we need going forward. Durga Puja is light. Durga Puja is hope. Durga Puja is unity. Writing this from Kolkata, I see those shafts of sunlight even amidst the dark clouds. The ties that bind Bengal and Britain have never been stronger. They are a force for good. In April, we brought a delegation of forty-five businesses and universities to Kolkata for the Bengal Global Business Summit. We were the largest presence of any of the forty-five countries who participated. What made me particularly proud was that I didn’t need to press anyone to come.

Those companies big and small, those universities old and new came because they wanted to come, not because I cajoled them. All those I spoke to left convinced they had invested their time wisely. I’m also seeing an explosion in the numbers of students from Bengal and other parts of East and Northeast India going to schools, colleges and universities in the United Kingdom. We believe we may well achieve two landmarks in 2022. One is that India will replace China as the overseas country with the largest number of students matriculating at UK universities this autumn. The other is that the United Kingdom may overtake the United States as having the largest cohort of students from abroad at its universities. Within that, something particularly pleases me. Until a couple of years ago, my consular district – Kolkata, West Bengal and the other states of East and Northeast India – was down at the bottom of the league table of successful applicants for UK Government Chevening Scholarships. We have turned that round. We are now second – ahead of Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai – behind Delhi, whose consular district includes the two hundred million souls who live in Uttar Pradesh. At the national level, ties between our two great countries go from strength to strength. One of new Prime Minister Liz Truss’s first calls was with Narendra Modi with the prospect of a UK/India Free Trade Agreement within weeks. Let me finish with two messages. The first is the sincerest of thank yous to Bengal Heritage Foundation and London Sharad Utsav. You are the embodiment of the Living Bridge between India and the United Kingdom. You are a force for good. You bring unity, understanding and harmony in a world that needs them. I am proud to be associated with you. Thank you for the good you do. The second is simply to wish everyone a happy, safe and joyous Durga Puja. Let the light shine upon you and your families and may it burn brightly in the weeks and months ahead.

Rupa Huq

Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom Ealing Central and Acton

As a Bengali myself I' ve really enjoyed the pooja over a number of years when the Victorian splendour of Ealing Town Hall comes alive in a riot of colour as indeed all the senses are stimulated in this annual devotional act. I will be avidly attending again, wish it every success and hope it continues for many, many years to come.