It was a crispy and warm summer morning with intermittent drizzles. The devotees attending early morning satsang and prayers on Saturday 22 June at the Shree Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple were asked to stay back for a surprise VIP visit. The Mandir was filled with 400 devotees, some singing bhajan or volunteering in the kitchen cooking ‘Maha Prashad’ or others preparing rooms for the important visit later in the day. Volunteers stood outside the temple, gently guiding the visitors through the entrance or giving specific directions to their questions.
As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with folded hands walked into the temple, along with Bob Blackman MP on his side, he touched the feet of SGVP President Swami Shri Madhavpriyadasji, while almost 200 devotees clapped and rejoiced.
The Prime Minister waved at the devotees and walked up to the main deity for an aarti, escorted by temple leaders Sureshbhai Rabadiya, Rickinbhai, committee members and volunteers. He was then garlanded, blessed and presented with many gifts and mementos, as Swami Shri Madhavpriyadasji welcomed him to the temple describing it as a ‘home for its devotees built by the devotees’.
The PM was also gifted with a Lord Hanumanji murti (idol) by Dr Sant Swami of Sarangpur Temple, which the Prime Minister promised to keep on his desk for strength and courage, especially when he chants Hanuman Chalisa.
Addressing the congregation, the Prime Minister praised Bob Blackman MP and his continued devotion towards his constituents who are largely British Hindus. Addressing the audience, PM Sunak talked about the importance of family values and how one should ‘never apologise for championing families.’
He explained, “Values matter more than policies and everything else that you might hear. My values and your values are the values of our party, and it starts with a family…
“It's about all the other wonderful things you do to make this environment where a community is enriched. That's what's special about what you have today….”
He also talked about ‘other’ values such as higher education, service and hard work, and how it resonates with the Conservative government’s policies. “All of us know you don't get anywhere in life without working hard,” he said. “What you need is a government that understands that hard work should be rewarded, and supported and celebrated, because that's how you build a better country, a better society. We understand the power of higher education. That's how my life was transformed. That's how many of your lives, our children's lives, are transformed. So, making sure that our schools provide the best possible opportunity for our young children to build their lives themselves is fundamental to who we are as people, as a country, as a society, and again, we're a party that understands your aspiration. We'll focus on high standards in our schools, making sure that people go to the best possible schools, because that's the best way to find opportunity and reduce inequality. So those are our values- family, hard work, service, the power of education and those are our party's values too…
“I love this country for what it has done. Like many of you, your ancestors, my grandparents, emigrated into this incredible country, and just two generations later, I sit here as the Prime Minister. I don't think my story would be possible in any other place in the world…”
He referred to Narendra Modi’s visit in 2015, then Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech at the Wembley Stadium addressing 40,000 people from the diaspora and promising a British Asian Prime Minister in the future, while he sat as a backbench MP. The Prime Minister then moved on to the upcoming general elections and concluded by thanking everyone for their support. He said, “I will work every day as hard as I can to make all your lives better, to make everyone in our country's lives better, so we can ensure that our children grow up and know that they have a bright future ahead. We will build an extraordinary future for them. It is an extraordinary country built on the values that we all here hold dear.”
The event was also attended by local councillors such as Cllr Kantibhai Rabadiya, Nitesh Hirani, Anjana Patel among others.
