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UK Labour Party leader visits Neasden temple
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To: ghen@netcom.com <ghen@netcom.com>
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Subject: UK Labour Party leader visits Neasden temple
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From: ashok <ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in>
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Date: Wed, 10 Jul 96 18:35:56 PDT
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Priority: Normal
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Resent-Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 00:06:52 -0700 (MST)
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Resent-From: Ajay Shah <ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu>
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Resent-Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.90.960712000652.12756O@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu>
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Resent-To: ghen@netcom.com
Title : Faithful Blair visits Neasden temple to woo
Hindu voter
Author : Amit Roy
Publication : Telegraph
Date : 23 June 1996
Tony was well coached. He did absolutely the right thing
when he paid a two-hour visit last night to the Hindu
temple in Neasden, north London.
When he was garlanded by His Holiness Swami
Pramukh
Maharaj, the 75-year-old leader of the Swaminarayan
movement, the Labour leader did not make the mistakes
that most Westerners commit. He did not continue wearing
the garland.
The man who expects to be Britains's next Prime Minister
immediately tossed it off and greeted Hind packed into a
giant prayer hall with a "namaste".
It was significant that Pramukh Swami, who has devoted
following among the Gujaratis in Britain, was on hand for
Mr Blair's visit.
The guru was not present earlier this year for the visit
of Prince Charles, who had to make do with a videotaped
message.
>From the moment he arrived, Mr Blair was treated as a
Prime Minister in waiting. He was showered with rose
petals and walked on a carpet strewn with flowers. He
carefully removed his shoes before doing so.
"Please come as Prime Minister next time," gushed Dr I.P
Patel, a general practitioner who is a member of the
temple's board of trustees.
The temple's "mahant," Sadhu Atmaswarup Das, who gave
the
Labour leader a crash course in Hinduism during a
conducted tour of the award-winning marble construction,
was applauded when he said: "We pray to our guru to bless
you so we can wel-come you as Prime Minister."
Mr Blair beamed. There are about a million Hindus in the
United Kingdom of whom the Gujaratis number 300,000.
Their vote is crucial in about a dozen constituencies
which Labour must retain or win if Mr Blair is about to
become Prime Minister.
Mr Blair projected himself as a man who shared the Hindu
view of family life, "a family that sits together, prays
together, eats together and stays together."
He said he had picked up a deeper understanding of the
principles behind the Hindu faith, "I have learnt so
much," he said. "It will stay with me. It will play a
part in my politics, and, if I am lucky, dare I say it, a
part my government."
The guru spoke last night in Gujarati. He clapped even
harder when Pramukh Swami's words were translated.
"You have my blessings so that you may succeed in all
areas and in all walks of life, personal, political and
spiritual."
On the stage with Mr Blair and Pramukh Swami were people
who had become strong supporters of the temple, Keith
Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East, Gopi Hinduja and
Swraj Paul.
