City Council Candidate Ali Najmi (Democrat, District 23) stood with Councilman Daniel Dromm and South Asian community leaders at the Sri Shaneeswara Temple in Queens last week to urge the Department of Education to recognize Diwali, which is an important holiday for people including Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist communities, as a school holiday in New York.
Ali Najmi, a candidate for New York City Council, 23rd District, said he is running for the City Council to make sure that all communities are respected and included in the City’s public holidays, and for this Diwali should be acknowledged as an important holiday
“I urge Mayor Bill de Blasio to demonstrate to our community the respect we deserve by adding Diwali to the public school holiday calendar. Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddist communities should have their holiday recognized. It is right thing to do and it is the New York thing to do. New York has a wonderful tradition of adapting to the needs of new and growing communities. Let’s continue that tradition by adding Diwali to the school calendar,” he said July 13.
Council Member Dromm, chair of the New York City Council Education Committee, said he was proud to stand with Ali Najmi to demand that Diwali be made an official school holiday. “The time has come for the Department of Education to recognize the importance of Diwali and to use it as a tool to promote acceptance and understanding,” he said.
In the past two years, Mayor de Blasio has made announcements to include Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, and the Lunar New Year—as school holidays for emerging communities –in the school calendar as holidays.
In February 2014 a coalition of almost 40 New York City organizations and temples urged Mayor Bill de Blasio to include Diwali alongside the new proposed public school holidays for Eid and Lunar New Year.
The Diwali Coalition of NYC’s letter, sent to the mayor, highlighted the importance of Diwali for the city’s Hindu, Jain, and Sikh communities and asked the mayor to take into consideration the significant number of the city’s public school children who celebrate this festival.
Uma Mysorekar, president of the Ganesh temple in Flushing, Queens, noted that time that Diwali is one of the most widely celebrated holidays for the Indian American community. “We hope the Mayor will take our community’s request to heart and include Diwali among the new public school holidays.”
Congressman Joe Crowley (NY-14), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, along with Reps. Charles Rangel (NY-13), Grace Meng (NY-6), Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Yvette Clarke (NY-9), and Gregory Meeks (NY-5) have also come out in support of the inclusion of Diwali. In a letter last year to Carmen Farina, Chancellor of Education, the campaign spearheaded by Crowley noted the “increased recognition” Diwali has gained on the national stage. Crowley and other members hosted the first-ever Congressional Diwali celebration in 2013, and the White House has recognized Diwali under successive administrations.
New York is home to well over 250,000 adherents to these faiths, and recognition of Diwali as a public school holiday will be an important acknowledgement of their countless contributions to this great city, the campaigners said last week.
“Ali Najmi will be a Council Member that fights for all communities to get the recognition that they deserve. We are proud to stand with him today to call on the Department of Education to recognize Diwali as a school holiday,” said Pam Kwatra, Founder and Chair of South Asian 4 Better Choice.
“Diwali is celebrated across New York with different customs and in diverse communities. We thank Ali Najmi for being a leader in the South Asian community and standing up for our schoolchildren and support his efforts to have Diwali recognized as an official holiday,” said Dipika Basu of the New York Puja Association.
Ali Najmi, a defense attorney, is a Democrat running for the New York City Council, District 23. He was honored by the New Kings Democrats for his work as a community organizer. Ali has led successful efforts to increase funding for youth programs in his community and he has rallied to improve local public schools and expand library service.
He has worked closely with labor unions as the political director of the Alliance of South Asian American Labor (ASAAL) . Ali is a co-founder of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York and is the past president of the Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club.
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