Dear HfHR Community,

We wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful Deepavali/Diwali, and take this opportunity to share what is on our minds and in our hearts this Diwali 2020, when most of us are having intimate celebrations in our households because of the current Covid spikes all over the world.

Diwali, the festival of light, is the most important celebration for most Hindus. We believe that the best way to observe this holy day is to reflect on how we can each do our part to shine the light of goodness, peace, generosity and justice throughout the world.

To commemorate this special day, we offer these messages:

• We made a conscious decision to organize a #DalitLivesMatter webinar today--on the day of Diwali--because we feel it is incumbent on Hindus to prioritize the effort to do away with caste entirely, and raise our voice against caste atrocities. HfHR Advisory Board Member and Dalit rights activist Martin Macwan was speaking from Gujarat, and we could hear the fireworks in the background. Here is the entire webinar from earlier today (and you can see Martin ji speaking about Diwali at 1:14:52): 

• A Diwali 2020 reflection from Vedantic scholar and Professor of Religion Dr. Anantanand Rambachan, based in Minnesota, USA, "When Speaking Truth to Power Is Necessary But Not Sufficient": 

• We share another Diwali reflection (in Hindi) from our brother Father Anand, an interfaith peace activist based in Varanasi, India:

• Please see this STATEMENT signed by several Hindu religious leaders and community members in India, and also in the United States. We thank Hindu Voices for Peace in India for organizing this gesture of solidarity with Faisal Khan, who committed no crime, and devotes every day to promoting peace and communal harmony.

Please consider a Diwali donation to Hindus for Human Rights so that we can keep building and growing our progressive Hindu platform devoted to the human rights of all.