Leicester South Asian Community Navigates Holi Celebrations and Reflections on 2022 Communal Unrest
Leicester found itself holding two moments in view simultaneously this season — the warmth of Holi celebrations attended by the Princess of Wales at a celebrated British Indian dance company, and the sobering analysis of how the city’s reputation for South Asian communal harmony was shattered by the 2022 Hindu-Muslim unrest that researchers are still working to fully understand.
🤝 South Asian Bridgers Project Reflects on Leicester’s Fractured Shared Belonging
British Future published an extended reflection by Dr Avaes Mohammed, Project Manager of the British South Asian Bridgers Project, written in response to the SOAS report titled “Better Together: Understanding the 2022 Violence in Leicester,” launched by the Leicester Inquiry panel. Mohammed writes from personal familiarity with the city, recalling visits to family in Leicester and the impact of the city’s famous Diwali celebrations — described as the largest outside of India — which once drew the entire city together across faith and cultural lines. Growing up in what he characterises as the more isolationist mill town communities of northern England, Mohammed found Leicester’s cross-cultural atmosphere radically different. As the UK’s first city where no single ethnic group would form a majority, Leicester carried genuine potential to become a global model of multiculturalism. The question at the heart of the SOAS report is precisely how the UK’s largest ever riots between Hindu and Muslim communities could then erupt in this same city. The inquiry panel’s examination centres on the role of disinformation as a central accelerant — a factor that Mohammed and the broader British South Asian Bridgers Project now work to address by rebuilding cross-community relationships. Mohammed speaks to South Asian community members in Leicester about what structural changes are necessary: not simply a return to surface harmony, but a deeper reckoning with how digital platforms and community leaders must work together to prevent the kind of rapid escalation that defined 2022. The project represents an ongoing effort to restore what was once Leicester’s defining characteristic as a city where belonging was genuinely shared. [1]
🎉 Princess of Wales Celebrates Holi with Leicester’s British Indian Community at Aakash Odedra
On March 5, 2026, Catherine, Princess of Wales, traveled to Leicester to join the city’s British Indian community in celebrating Holi, the spring festival of colours that marks the triumph of good over evil in the Hindu calendar. The visit took place at The Aakash Odedra Company, home to the internationally recognised British Indian contemporary dance company founded by Aakash Odedra, whose choreographic work draws deeply on classical Indian dance traditions. Honouring Holi’s traditional dress code of white, the Princess wore a bespoke Chris Kerr coat she had first worn at a Christmas carol service in 2023, now paired with a pleated cream Ralph Lauren dress suited to a spring occasion. Upon arrival, she was presented with a “mala” — a necklace crafted from roses and pearls — a traditional symbol of respect and honour in Indian culture. She completed the look with Sézane “Dina” earrings and an Emmy London “Natasha” clutch. The royal visit drew significant attention to Leicester’s British Indian cultural community and the living significance of Holi as a diaspora celebration that carries deep meaning beyond its ceremonial origins. For a city still rebuilding its multicultural reputation in the aftermath of 2022, the Princess’s participation in a major South Asian festival at an institution dedicated to Indian performing arts carried particular resonance — a signal that Leicester’s British Indian cultural life continues to attract national and royal recognition even as the community works through a difficult recent chapter in its history. [6]
Sources: [1] British Future · [6] W Magazine