Portsmouth's leaders turn out for the Sikh celebration of Diwali

PESCARO (Punjabi Educational Social Cultural and Religious Organisation) held an event with Portsmouth City Council on Sunday, November 26 to commemorate the 553rd birthday of Guru Nanak Devji, the founder of the Sikh religion, as well as Diwali, with the two events falling alongside each other for the first time in years. Diwali, otherwise known as the Festival of Light, is celebrated by different faiths for different reasons. The Sikh community celebrates it for the anniversary of the Bhandi Chore Divas, which marks the release from prison of Guru Har Gobind Sahib in 1619.

The event was attended by dignitaries and representatives of different faiths from within the city. CS Chadha, who spoke at the event, believes it is vital for these multi-faith events to take place to continue spreading the message of understanding between communities. He said: "It was important to have everyone from the community there as it is the only way you can encourage understanding, tolerance, harmony, inter-community, and inter-faith. We are very lucky in Portsmouth that we have so many faiths, so many communities, so many ethnic groups, and we have very little problems. One of the reasons for that is having events like this that help spread the message of harmony, acceptance and tolerance. These events are so important, we attend the synagogue, we attend the Catholic and Anglicans, who all have their civic services and we attend them. It says that we are all here and we are all together."