H. RES 747

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Recognizing the religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali

That’s right folks. The House could not pass that Armenian Genocide Bill today. They are also wrangling with President Bush who is asking for another gazillion dollars for the war in Iraq using our children’s credit. But you know what they did take the time to agree on? That we should recognize Diwali. Hoorah for Congressional efficiency!

A congressional resolution recognizing the religious and historical significance of Diwali, passed the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote.
The Indo-American community leaders and political activists who lobbied for it, reacted with praise and cautious optimism as bill now awaits vote in Full House of Representatives.

The bill, H.Res. 747, calls for the U.S. Congress to acknowledge “the religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali” and was introduced jointly by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Jim McDermott (D-WA).

“The Diwali festival is celebrated by nearly two million people here in the United States and many millions more around the world,” said Congressman Wilson soon after the resolution passed. “It is an opportunity for Congress to acknowledge the shared values of kinship, knowledge, and goodness celebrated during the five day festival.” He also called upon the full House of Representatives to take up the bill as soon as possible. [Link]

The question this year, like every year, is will Bush celebrate Diwali?

Full text of the resolution is below the fold.

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali.

Whereas Diwali, a festival of great significance to Indian Americans and the people of India, is celebrated annually by Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains throughout the United States and the world;

Whereas there are more than 2,000,000 Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains in the United States;

Whereas the word `Diwali’ is a shortened version of the Sanskrit term `Deepavali’, which means `a row of lamps’;

Whereas Diwali is a festival of lights, during which celebrants light small oil lamps, place them around the home, and pray for health, knowledge, and peace;

Whereas celebrants of Diwali believe that the rows of lamps symbolize the light within the individual that rids the soul of the darkness of ignorance;

Whereas Diwali, falling on the last day of the last month in the lunar calendar, is celebrated as a day of thanksgiving and the beginning of the new year for many Hindus;

Whereas for Hindus, Diwali is a celebration of the victory of good over evil;

Whereas for Sikhs, Diwali is feted as the day that the sixth founding Sikh Guru, or revered teacher, Guru Hargobind ji, was released from captivity from the ruling Mughal Emperor; and

Whereas for Jains, Diwali marks the anniversary of the attainment of moksha or liberation by Mahavira, the last of the Tirthankaras, who were the great teachers of Jain dharma, at the end of his life in 527 B.C.: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) during this time of celebration, in order to demonstrate support for Indian Americans and the Indian Diaspora throughout the world, recognizes Diwali as an important festival;

(2) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of the festival of Diwali;

(3) recognizes and appreciates the religious diversity in both India and the United States and throughout the world;

(4) acknowledges and supports the new relationship of collaboration and dialogue in international efforts between the United States and India; and

(5) in observance of and out of respect for the start of Diwali, the festival of lights, acknowledges the onset of Diwali and expresses its deepest respect to Indian Americans and the Indian Diaspora throughout the world on this significant occasion. [Link]

And don’t worry. There is no chance that President Bush could veto this. Oh hell no. If he did then Goyal would be all over Dana Perino like ghee on a hot roti.

23 thoughts on “H. RES 747”

  2. i hate to bring this up, but isn’t the language of the resolution kind of problematic in extending its respects in honor of Diwali/Deepavali to ‘Indian Americans’ as opposed to ‘Hindu/Buddhist/Sikh/Jain Americans’? I know this comes up a lot, but this is a Congressional resolution! Technical details are not verboten! Another technical detail they left out was not calling it ‘Diwali/Deepavali’ all the time.

  4. so what does this mean in real terms, sure they ‘recognized’ it. Does the Govt. give any money for celebrations, do they put up some sort of thing at some airport and Govt. offices or would it just be used by representatives trying to court desis for campaign funds?

  7. so what does this mean in real terms, sure they ‘recognized’ it.

    Nah, it’s just political masturbation as usual from the Congress, like their innumerable non-binding resolutions. It’s like an exercise to say “Hey, we’re not as homogenized white male as our demographics might suggest – we can recognize ‘ethnic’ festivals too”. How? They point up to an exploding firecracker and a bunch of Indian sweets and say “Yeah, that’s Diwali alright. We’d recognize that anywhere”.

  8. Abhi, I’m so glad you are posting regularly again! We missed you.

    You can take the blogger out of the bunker but you can’t take the bunker out of the blogger. 😉

  10. I think Congress recognizing Diwali is related to the growing demographic weight of the South Asian community, which I mentioned this morning on the poker thread. A South Asian-American community that will soon outnumber the Chinese-American community in the US, as well as a South Asia that already has more people than China – are trends that politicians have noticed. The only people who haven’t noticed or thought about it too much seem to be South Asian Americans themselves.

    Whereas there are more than 2,000,000 Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains in the United States;

    As resolutions go, I found it extremely well balanced – separately mentioning Sikhs and Jains as well as Hindus (who would, in a less balanced version, have been the only ones named).

  11. A Republican from South Carolina introducing a Bill recognizing Diwali! Now that’s bucking some stereotype.

  13. Sikhs celebrate Diwali?

    News for you ACFD: Not only do Sikhs celebrate Diwali, so do some South Asian Muslims, especially those South Asian Muslims whose ancestors migrated out of South Asia well before the drastic communal polarization of the decades immediately before Partition – such as in South Africa, East Africa, and the West Indies.

  15. News for you ACFD: Not only do Sikhs celebrate Diwali, so do some South Asian Muslims, especially those South Asian Muslims whose ancestors migrated out of South Asia well before the drastic communal polarization of the decades immediately before Partition – such as in South Africa, East Africa, and the West Indies.

    Did not know that. Very interesting.

  16. ACFD, Sikhs do celebrate Diwali, but for slightly different reasons . For Sikhs it holds significance because it marks the day that the sixth Guruji (Guru Hargobind Ji) left Gwalior prison with 52 other princes / political prisoners. There’s of course more to that backstory, but that’s the basic narrative. Surprisingly, the Wikipedia explanation is pretty accurate.

    ::

    The only thing I thought was a little strange about the HR was that it sets up “Indian Americans” in a way that indicates that there are no Muslims of Indian descent. Just saying.

  17. He also called upon the full House of Representatives to take up the bill as soon as possible.

    So H.R. 747 is not yet passed, right??

    The House could not pass that Armenian Genocide Bill today.

    I think the US legislative body has no right to pass bills on someone else’s actions 100 years ago while it is overseeing an illegal occupation of country. Irony of it all is lost on these law-makers.

  18. i’m actually excited about this– recognize my peeps, white house!!

    let’s push for it to be a national holiday. i’d be in to getting out of work on deepavali–

    hooooraaaay festive holidays!

  21. The relationship of the Abrahamic religions to what are called the non-Abrahamic faiths–Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism– is a question far more alive in America, especially among Christian conservatives, than in Britain, where church-going tends to be a minority vocation. Fundamentalist Christians see Hinduism as an idol-worshipping religion and do not see or accept that the idols are symbols or signs of the One God, or that Upanishadic Hinduism is not only monotheistic, which the Abrahamic faiths claim is their characteristic, but monistic. At any rate, the question needs to be pondered partly in a historical context.

  22. This is continuing to show the growing role of Indian Americans in the political realm and that they will be an important community in the upcoming 2008 election. With the US strongly pushing the 123 Nuclear Deal, Bobby Jindal winning as the first Indian Governor in the US, and IALI reporting almost a dozen Indian American Candidates nationwide. The community has a lot to be proud about but we need to move forward as a united community and issue strong responses when necessary. I still think the community needs to send a stronger message to Presidential Hopeful Fred Thompson for picking up George Allen as a national chair. Good work Abhi I wanted to tell you all about a website we have put together http://www.usinpac2008.com a full blown coverage of the 2008 Election and how it connects to the Indian American Community.

    Thanks,

    Varun

  23. Do Hindus, Sikhs and Jains (and that subset of Muslims mentioned earlier) celebrate Diwali differently in India and abroad?