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Cherie shows concern for poor widows in India
At the Diwali dinner hosted by Raj Loomba, Cherie said she wants to raise the issue of plight of poor widows.
Praising India as "the largest democracy in the world," wife of British Prime Minister Cherie Booth, QC, said she was keen to raise the issue of plight of poor widows in India and help them to have a better life.
Speaking at the annual Diwali dinner hosted by Raj Loomba, chairman of the Loomba Trust, she said: "Tony and I were delighted to attend the launch of the Trust in 1998. Now, I've become the first president of the Trust."
Referring to the fact that the Loomba Trust was educating 11,00 children of widowed mothers in India, Booth said that until 1998 she did not realise that there were 33 million widows in India, each with three to four children, which would total up to 100 million children, "who without our help will not have the opportunity to be educated".
She told the Hindustan Times that she believed the Trust is a "marvellous project. And more will happen". Speaking about visiting India, she said: "I would love to go to India any day." A lawyer, Booth praised the Indian legal system. She said: "Both countries have a democracy. The common law is the same. The judges are fantastic there."
The evening, co-hosted by Mayor Ken Livingston and the London Firsts at the Dorchester Hotel, which raised £53,000 through auctions was attended by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy and shadow minister David Davies.
Speaking at the occasion Livingstone pointed out 62 per cent of London's population was Indian and said: "There is no place in the world, not in over 200 countries where Diwali is not celebrated." Then he quipped that watching the US elections, while living in such a one world, "everyone should be allowed to vote."
Showcasing London's bid for the Olympics, he said "if we are lucky on July 6", his lawyers and Loomba's lawyers will meet and "we will bring all those children from India to see the Indian team win". In a magnamous jesture Livingstone exempted the Jagaur which was auctioned at £28,000 from life-long congestion charge.
British actress Joanna Lumley, who is famous for her charitable work, and had appealed during the Gujarat earthquake, said: "India is tattooed over my heart." She told the Mayor, "I'm one of the 62 per cent because I was born in India, in Kashmir."
