Outside, former British Prime Minister Ted Heath was facing TV cameras on the Abbey steps. And busloads of Indian from faraway places like Leicester and Bradford were tumbling onto the street.
It is 25 years since Ugandas Asians thrown out by crackpot dictator Idi Amin arrived at Londons Stansted Airport. This week, they commemorated the unhappy anniversary at a unique ceremony in the Abbey. Says businessman Manubhai Madhvan: It was both a thanksgiving and a memorial.
The Ugandan Asians have come a long way in the last 25 years. And the ceremony was designed to demonstrate how theyve moved to the mainstream of British society. Says banker Jitesh Gadhia: Weve made our mark in all walks of life.
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But theres no question that Thursdays ceremony broke new ground in a number of ways. An organ recital of Bachs fugue in G minor was followed by Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram. The Lords Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount were followed by a reading from Tagores Gitanjali.
The Ugandan Asians have gone to great lengths for the service. They were determined to repay a debt to everyone who helped them 25 years ago. At the top of the list was Heath, who took the decision to allow them in against strong opposition from his party. At another level, they searched out people who had worked in the refugee camps and others who had housed homeless families.
Nevertheless, there were discordant moments in the tastefully-organised one-hour ceremony. Heath, during his address, mentioned that the British government had asked other countries to take refugees. We contacted nearly 50 countries, he admitted.
For those whove forgotten the events, a quick recap is in order. Idi Amin ordered the Asians who were mostly British passport holders out in 90 days. The British government, after stalling for a bit, finally took in over 30,000 Asians. Said Heath: This thanksgiving is for what we, as a people, were able to do and a rejoicing that it has been such an enormous success.
But there were hiccups on the way to the ceremony. The Financial Times reported that traditionalists at the Abbey were outraged by the idea of sitars and readings from Tagore. However, this is denied by organiser John De Souza: They bent over backwards to accommodate our ideas, he says.
The Ugandan Asians wont let the 25th anniversary be forgotten in a hurry. Already, theyve held a thanksgiving service at the Swami Narayan Temple in North London. And, Manubhai Madhvani, the main force behind the events, now wants to put up a memorial plaque at Stansted Airport, where most of the 30,000 Ugandan Asians landed.
Inevitably, there have been controversies surrounding these events. Some point out that in 1972, the British were extremely reluctant to honour their commitments. And new arrivals faced extreme hostility and racism. Says writer Yasmin Ali-Brown: They are glossing over these things.
Such criticism didnt stop the Ugandan Asians from turning up in big numbers from all over the country. Nearly 1,000 arrived at Westminster Abbey and most were ordinary folk whove struggled to get back on their feet in the last 25 years.
But there are some lessons to be learnt from the ceremony. The very fact that it took place in Westminster Abbey is an indication of how Britain has changed. Twenty-five years ago, bhajans and sitars would have been unthinkable in the Abbey.
More importantly, however, it indicates that Indians are gradually working their way out of the ghetto. A new generation appears to be taking its place in the mainstream of British life. If that is true, it will be a giant step forward.