Durban - With Diwali just around the corner, calls have been made for Hindus to be given a holiday when they are celebrating.
The call was made yesterday at a
dialogue organised by the Commission for the
Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic
Communities held in Durban.
The dialogue tackled the issue of how some communities were angered by Diwali celebrations.
Lalmun Maharaj, a trustee of the Shri Vishnu Temple in Chatsworth, said a day on which Diwali is celebrated should be made a holiday so Hindus could take the day off to mark the occasion.
These sentiments were shared by Visvin Reddy, a Chatsworth community activist. He said government departments should allow Hindus to take time off without any pay deductions. Reddy said the government should lead in terms of religious tolerance with its own departments and state-owned enterprises by creating policies that promoted tolerance.
Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the SA Hindu Maha Sabha, said government should educate municipalities when it came to their responses to Diwali celebrations. Another issue discussed was that of fireworks.
Trikamjee said some Hindus believed fireworks were not traditionally a part of Diwali celebrations and these views were wrong.
He said decades ago, people would
celebrate Diwali with pomp, music and other means. As the years went by, he said,
fireworks became part of celebrations, the same way as they became incorporated into sporting events over the years. Trikamjee said before 1994, due to the Group Areas Act, people with similar
cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs lived together and celebrated Diwali in the same community, with no problem arising from fireworks. White people would also celebrate holidays like Guy Fawkes Day with fireworks, he said. Trikamjee urged people to be tolerant with each other. He said Diwali celebrations were not as big as New Year’s celebrations and that fireworks’ sales for the period from December 24 to January 1 were “six times higher” than those for Diwali.
“It is a war zone,” Trikamjee said referring to the large volumes of fireworks set off on New Year’s Eve in Durban.
To prevent tensions, Trikamjee said the Hindu Maha Sabha had recommended that fireworks be set off between 7.30pm and 9.30pm, in line with the by-laws.
During the event, there were also
discussions on how it seemed by-laws
regulated religious practice. Muhammed Omar, legal adviser of the eThekwini Municipality, said the amount of tolerable noise was not an exact science, and they were still working on ways to regulate this.