Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron takes part in a ceremony at the Hindu temple Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in London, during Diwali, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013
Admiring British Indians for their contributions, Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he wants to see more people from the community at the top in the country's armed forces, judiciary and politics.
Speaking at a Diwali reception he hosted at 10, Downing Street, his office-cum-residence in London last night, Cameron noted that increasingly young British Indians can look at any part of our national endeavour and can see people like them getting to the very top.
"We want to see British Hindus, British Indians in the top of our judiciary, we want to see them at the top of our armed forces and we also want to see them at the top of our politics," he said.
"I think we have made some big steps forward in recent years, and it's great to see here tonight people like Shailesh Vara (Justice Minister) Alok Sharma, MP (Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party), Priti Patel, MP and Keith Vaz, MP, Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee.
"There's a lot more British Indians now involved in our politics, and as I said on Monday, I want to see more in the Commons, I want to see more in the Lords and I want to see more in our government."
Cameron, who will be making his third visit to India in two years as Prime Minister next week, expressed his profound wish "that we continue to do everything we can to build the relationship" between Britain and India.
"It is a strong relationship, it's a vibrant relationship. It has so many parts to it. There's all the shared history, there's the shared language. There's the great excitement about our economies. India invests more into the United Kingdom than the rest of Europe put together," he said.
Noting that Britain is one of the top three investors into India, Cameron said that some of the projects and some of the businesses underway are thrilling.
"The cooperation between our universities and our shared love of sport, there's so much that we share together. I think the exciting thing about the relationship is not the past or the present, but it's the future. It's the idea that we are going to work together on some of these shared global challenges. And I very much look forward to making my third visit to India as Prime Minister, and seeing Manmohan Singh when I go. Its huge pleasure to go back to India, and I'm really looking forward to it."
India's acting High Commissioner to the UK Virendar Paul, Lord Bikku Parikh, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Lord Raj Loomba, Keith Vaz, MP, Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, and Shailesh Vara were also present on the occasion.
At the outset, Cameron wished everyone a very Happy Diwali and thanked the choir which sang among others 'Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram'.
"That beautiful singing is a reminder of the fact that we're so fortunate in this country to have, with our academies and our free schools, some Hindu schools, backed by religious organisations that make an incredible contribution to our country," he added.