PP government gives $4M for Divali celebrations

SDMS General Secretary Sat Maharaj receives a cheque for $1.2M from Culture Minister Winston Peters

Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Winston "Gypsy" Peters on Wednesday distributed cheques amount to $4 million for Divali celebrations across Trinidad and Tobago.

The National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) and the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS).the two largest Indian groups in the country, got the lion's share of the funding. NCIC received $1 million and the SDMS got $1.2 million.

The SDMS has promised to use the money to fund Divali celebrations at more than 200 temples across the country. The NCIC's major expenditure is its annual Yagna and Divili Nagar exposition held at its headquarters in Chaguanas.

"This funding will allow the Maha Sabha, as well as the NCIC, to bring Divali celebrations to every community throughout the country," Peters said. 

He added, "We are very much looking forward to contributing to the enhancement of the celebration of this festival and similarly supporting other events that represent the culture and heritage of our people."

The minister also handed out cheques to several community groups and organisations.

At the opening of Divali Nagar Wednesday night Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan was honoured as the NCIC's "Chief Guest". In an address he paid tribute to NCIC for keeping Indian culture, religion and traditions alive.

"Divali Nagar is in itself, for many, an annual pilgrimage where one connects with one's cultural and religious self, where one is reminded of one's ancestry and where one asks and answers, in varying degrees, who am I, from where have I come, what is my mission," he said.

Read the story: Rambachan praises NCIC as place of cultural pilgrimage