Cit­i­zens of T&T should use the mes­sage of Di­vali to help solve some of the so­cial ills of the coun­try said Gopaul Bood­han, May­or of Ch­agua­nas.

“Where there is the un­leash­ing of vi­o­lence, we must turn on the lamp of safe­ty, se­cu­ri­ty and di­a­logue. Where there is a stub­born at­tach­ment to the sta­tus quo, we must point to the fu­ture with the ra­di­ance of in­no­va­tion and ge­nius. Let us cel­e­brate the mes­sage of Di­vali every day of our lives, a mes­sage of faith, a mes­sage of love, mes­sage of fam­i­ly, dreams land as­pi­ra­tions and all must have a com­mit­ment that every woman must be safe, every child should be ed­u­cat­ed, and every in­di­vid­ual shall en­joy the right to health, wealth and re­spect in our blessed na­tions.”

He spoke on Sat­ur­day night at the clos­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the Di­vali Na­gar in Ch­agua­nas.

In the mid­dle of speech­es, the event was coloured by songs and dances form the East In­di­an com­mu­ni­ty.

Chair­man of the Di­vali Na­gar, 2019 Sa­hadeo Par­tap, who al­so spoke on the suc­cess of the Di­vali Na­gar said the event’s ac­com­plish­ments are high­light­ed by the num­ber of re­gion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al par­tic­i­pants.

“Di­vali Na­gar plays an im­por­tant part in the so­ci­ol­o­gy of our twin-is­land na­tion. No won­der Di­vali Na­gar at­tracts a wide cross-sec­tion of vis­i­tors in T&T and from the di­as­po­ra. Di­vali Na­gar is mak­ing a pos­i­tive im­pact. Yes, there is a need for change and that too will come,” he said.

Man­ag­ing di­rec­tor Fire One Fire­works, An­dre Abra­ham, who al­so spoke dur­ing the clos­ing cer­e­mo­ny said that cit­i­zens should use the val­ues of the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty to “il­lu­mi­nate” the coun­try.

“Let us be like a deya, let us be like a spark of hope that spreads the mes­sage of hope and pos­i­tiv­i­ty,” he said.