London: Elated at landslide victory of the BJP in Lok Sabha elections, hundreds of party supporters in the UK are celebrating by organising various events, hoping for a better future for India under the new government. A series of election results monitoring events were held across London, Cardiff, Leeds, Birmingham and Leicester yesterday, which quickly transformed into celebrations. The UK saw the highest turnout at an Indian Restaurant in Queensbury area in the north-west of the city, home to a large section of the city's Gujarati community.
People danced, sang and shouted slogans in support of Modi to the tune of dhols and free food and drinks. British Prime Minister David Cameron was also praised by the BJP supporters here for inviting Modi for an official visit to the UK. "People are finally optimistic about their motherland's future and were very happy that BJP got a landslide majority victory in the elections," an Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) spokesperson said. A pre-planned day-long victory celebration or "Vijay Utsav" is being held today at the Sattavis Patidar Centre in Wembley, north London, where hundreds of Modi supporters, local MPs and senior peers from the House of Lords will be gathering for another session of song, dance and Indian snacks.
Meanwhile, an event giving result analysis of the election was organised by the London School of Economics (LSE) and Indian Journalists' Association. Senior academics and journalists at the event debated on the implications of the BJP's election sweep at the LSE campus here yesterday. "The results are about hope and aspiration and my fear is that when that gets blocked due to structural constraints, there may be an attempt to deflect attention by creating tensions on the ground. I hope I am wrong," said Professor Pranab Bardhan, senior economist and visiting professor at King's College India Institute.
Doctor Mukulika Banerjee, LSE associate professor of anthropology and author of 'Why India Votes?' added: "If you look at the BJP vote share, it was really a vote for Modi. It wasn't the party people were voting for and this vote for Modi is less than a third of the electorate and it is important to remember this. Otherwise we may start believing that it marks a sort of seismic shift in India and the idea of India. The results mark a terrible day for the pundits as, yet again, Indian democracy failed to disappoint," said James Astill, political editor at 'The Economist'.
