{"id":70967,"date":"2017-06-11T11:06:13","date_gmt":"2017-06-11T05:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=70967"},"modified":"2017-06-11T11:06:13","modified_gmt":"2017-06-11T05:36:13","slug":"british-pm-visited-baps-shri-swaminarayan-mandir-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=70967","title":{"rendered":"British PM visited BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at London"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Theresa May, visited BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London on Saturday 3 June 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was her second visit to the Mandir, having previously attended as the guest of honour and keynote speaker at the International Women\u2019s Day<\/a> (IWD) celebrations in March 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accompanied by her husband Philip May, the Prime Minister was greeted in traditional Hindu manner with auspicious marks of welcome and goodwill. She then performed an abhishek of Shri Nilkanth Varni, before proceeding to the inner sanctum where she offered flower petals at the central shrine of Bhagwan Swaminarayan.<\/span><\/p>\n

After meeting young and old volunteers of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, she met leaders of other Hindu organisations and members of the Hindu community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sejal Saglani, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London, introduced Theresa May to the guests and worshippers attending the evening assembly. She recalled the then Home Secretary\u2019s inspiring messages at the IWD convention in 2013, and thanked Ms May for her glowing tribute<\/a> to His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj upon his passing in August 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister addressed the congregation of more than 2,000 people and praised<\/span><\/p>\n

British Indians for being \u201cinspiring role models\u201d and encouraged them to help her make Britain the \u201cworld\u2019s great meritocracy\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

She drew upon the \u201cpositive energy\u201d and \u201cstrong sense of purpose and community spirit\u201d that she experienced at the Mandir. \u201cWhat you have accomplished here \u2013 and at so many Hindu temples across Britain \u2013 is not just a source of great pride for British Hindus but an inspiration for all British citizens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She praised British Indians for being \u201cinspiring role models across all walks of life\u201d and said their achievements were built \u201con the very best of British and Indian values\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms May also reflected upon His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj\u2019s legacy of selfless service that \u201cwill continue to benefit humanity for a long time to come\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInspired by his own predecessor, Pramukh Swami dared to dream. He lived up to his motto that \u2018In the joy of others lies our own.\u2019 That mission is now being continued by Mahant Swami, who I am pleased to learn will visit London later this month.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister was presented with mementos of her visit before meeting several of the congregation as she departed the Mandir.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The British Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Theresa May, visited BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London on Saturday 3 June 2017. This was her second visit to the Mandir, having previously attended as the guest of honour and keynote speaker at the International Women\u2019s Day (IWD) celebrations in March 2013. Accompanied by her husband Philip May, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}