The state legislature on June 11 passed a bill to designate Diwali, the Festival of Lights, as a New York City public school holiday.
Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, who introduced the bill, A.7769, said it was the “final victory” in a fight spanning over two decades for Diwali, one of the holiest days of the year for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, to become a school holiday.
“Tonight our legislature says to hundreds of thousands of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain Americans across the State, ‘We see you. Tonight we say to New Yorkers from India, Guyana, Trinidad, Nepal, and Bangladesh, ‘We recognize you,’” Rajkumar said. “From now on, the largest school jurisdiction in the entire country will recognize the Diwali school holiday. Tonight we proudly say that Diwali is an American holiday—and that the South Asian community is part of the American story.”
