Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has re­mind­ed us that the fes­ti­val of Di­vali is not con­fined to one com­mu­ni­ty in our coun­try, but ap­peals to all.

In his mes­sage to com­mem­o­rate 2023 Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions, the Prime Min­is­ter said, “It is note­wor­thy that Di­vali is a na­tion­al hol­i­day, hav­ing been recog­nised as such, and is now be­ing shared and cel­e­brat­ed in­creas­ing­ly across T&T. It is no longer looked up­on as an in­su­lar ac­tiv­i­ty or an event con­fined to on­ly a par­tic­u­lar com­mu­ni­ty or just the Hin­du faith.

“In fact, one can sense the grow­ing re­al­i­sa­tion that the es­sen­tial mes­sage of Di­vali is ex­tend­ing to each and every one of us, as cit­i­zens, and as hu­man be­ings. Its essence looms large, hold­ing a uni­ver­sal ap­peal to every hu­man be­ing, re­gard­less of his or her re­li­gious af­fil­i­a­tion, eth­nic­i­ty or ge­o­graph­i­cal lo­ca­tion on this plan­et.”

In re­cent weeks, there have been con­cerns raised by the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty fol­low­ing sev­er­al acts of van­dal­ism at Hin­du tem­ples and sites across the coun­try.

The Prime Min­is­ter called on the pub­lic to re­flect on the mes­sage of the fes­ti­val.

He said, “But, across the world to­day, there are dark clouds. In re­cent times, there was the feel­ing among many per­sons—my­self in­clud­ed—that there were signs, at last, that gave us hope for greater hu­man un­der­stand­ing, comi­ty, and long-last­ing peace.”