Hundreds gather for Indian independence day flag ceremony in Slough park

Nearly 500 people gathered to mark the 78th Indian Independence Day in a Slough park last week.

The Indian Diaspora in the UK group (IDUK) hosted a vibrant celebration with figures from the local Indian community to celebrate the occasion at Lascelles Park on August 15.

Organisers said the event underscored the ‘strong cultural ties and patriotism’ among the Indian diaspora, which featured a flag-hosting ceremony and cultural performances on Thursday morning.

Organiser Alok Gupta told the Express: “It’s very important because in Slough we have not seen any such event that remembers the sacrifices made for Indian independence.

“We felt it was an important day for the Indian community and the right movement to celebrate the sacrifices made during this period. It’s a movement to pay tribute to those people as well and pay respect to our national flag.

“It was fantastic – it was not just the Indian community, others joined. Many people who live here in Slough don’t know much about Indian Independence Day so it was an opportunity for them to learn what this event it and why we celebrate it.

“So parents were interested in telling stories of Indian independence to children so that was happening on the ground too. It was really a nice movement.”

Musical performances by youngsters – both vocal and instrumental – opened the ceremony, which took place in the Slough park for a third year.

Tea and refreshments were served and goody bags were distributed at the end.

Slough mayor Cllr Balwinder Singh Dhillon Ji led the ceremony and council leader Cllr Dexter Smith said it was ‘amazing’ to see so many people turn up at 7.30am on a working day.

Other councillors in attendance were Cllr Subhash Mohindra, Cllr Neal Rana, Cllr Chandra Muvalla, Cllr Gurcharan Singh, Cllr Dhruv Tomar, and Cllr Md Nazir as well as former mayor Meva Maan.