Asian Community In Kenya Wants Diwali Recognised As Public Holiday

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 20- The Asian community leaders in Nairobi have appealed to the government to recognize Diwali as a Public holiday. The community says the holy day is celebrated globally just like other religious festivals. 

The leader that included businessmen, politicians, and religious leaders visited the Interior Ministry offices and held close to five hours meeting with the Chief Administrative Secretary Ambassador Hussein Dado to discuss the raft of issues pertinent to the community among them harassment by law enforcement officers and Diwali celebrations.

“Diwali is considered a global festival, it is our humble request to the president to consider Diwali as a national holiday. We all celebrate Christmas, New Year, and the Eid celebration, so why don’t we all come together to celebrate Diwali as well?”  asked Abhijeet Gupta, Asian Community leader, and businessman.

The delegates also wanted the Kenyan government to offer them the opportunity to invest in the country’s different sectors instead of contracting foreign investors, saying they form the largest block of community to pay taxes considering their population in the country.

The Kenyans of Asian heritage have been granted official recognition as the 44th tribe in the country in 2017 after assiduous lobbying by the community and civil society in Kenya.

“I would like to thank the president for recognizing Asians as the forty-fourth tribe in the country. Asians who came here built the railway and created jobs not only for themselves but also for Kenyans at large,” said Jayendra Malde, Parklands Member of County Assembly. 

Interior and National coordination CAS acclaimed the effort done by the community, saying their contribution to the economy and welfare of the country cannot be ignored.

Dado received their views and promised to forward them to Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“I have received your views and will share them with the President and the CS who is away today.  Probably we will have another meeting to discuss further and see how best we can help them regarding the Diwali holiday,” he said.

The Asian community leaders met the CAS a few weeks after the ministry denied declaring Diwali a public holiday following a fake gazette notice that went viral.

The fake notice claimed that Thursday, November 4, 2021, was a public holiday and would have been allowed to join the Hindus to celebrate the festival.

In Kenya, Diwali has not yet been recognized as a national holiday. However, Kenyan Hindus are allowed to mark this day by taking a day off from work and school to observe the important festival.