Downing Street holds first Diwali celebrations

ONDON (AFP) – Gordon Brown donned a garland Friday as the British prime minister's Downing Street office hosted its first Diwali celebration.

Brown also lit candles at the event attended by prominent members of Britain's Hindu and Sikh communities.

Brown told the gathering it was "a great day for Downing Street".

"For centuries Diwali has been celebrated," he said.

"This is the first time we have had such a celebration here in Downing Street."

Two years ago the prime minister took the name Govardhan Brown, during a Diwali ceremony.

The festival of light celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, is becoming more widely marked in Britain. Indians make up the largest proportion of people of South Asian origin.

In the last census in 2001, 1.1 million people, or 1.8 percent of the population, said they were of Indian ethnic origin. Some 559,000 said they were Hindus, while 336,000 said they were Sikhs.