Downing Street has apologised to British Hindus after it served meat and alcohol at its annual Diwali celebration.
No 10 said on Friday it had made a “mistake” in the organisation of the celebration on 29 October, at which beer, wine and lamb kebabs were reportedly served.
The event had prompted complaints from some Hindus in the UK, including the Conservative MP Shivani Raja, who said she had been “deeply saddened” to hear about the event. Hinduism does not prohibit meat or alcohol, but many observant Hindus are vegetarian and some are also teetotal.
In a statement on Friday, Downing Street said: “The prime minister was pleased to welcome a range of communities celebrating Diwali to a reception in Downing Street.
“He paid tribute to the huge contribution the British Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities make to our country and how the government is driven by the shared values of hard work, ambition and aspiration.
“A mistake was made in the organisation of the event. We understand the strength of feeling on this issue and so would apologise to the community and assure them it will not happen again.”
Downing Street’s Diwali celebration has become a major event on the social calendar for British Hindus, especially since Rishi Sunak became the first Hindu prime minister in 2022. One of Sunak’s first official appointments as prime minister was to host the celebration, at which he was pictured surrounded by family, lighting traditional candles.
Those who have attended in the past say the event has usually been vegetarian and alcohol-free. News that this year’s celebration had served both meat and alcoholic drinks had prompted anger among some Hindus.
Raja wrote to the prime minister on Thursday to express her unhappiness. “I feel this speaks poorly against the organisation of this year’s event – with a disappointing lack of knowledge of the customs and traditions that many British citizens hold dear,” she wrote.
“As a practising Hindu, representing thousands of Hindus within my own constituency of Leicester East, I have been deeply saddened to hear that this year’s festivities were overshadowed in the greatest office of state by negativity as a result of this oversight.”
Raja was the only Tory MP to win her seat from Labour at the last election, reflecting Labour’s long-term struggle to keep hold of its Hindu voters. Last year, the party overhauled its outreach efforts to British Indians after a dramatic fall in support among that group, from 61% in 2010 to 30% in 2019.
Despite the result in Leicester East, the strategy appears to have paid off across the country, with the party picking up two percentage points among Hindus in 2024 – broadly in line with the country as a whole.
