New York – The ongoing efforts to create a Diwali postage stamp in the United States got an unexpected supporter in the form of the visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promised to write to President Barack Obama on the subject urging for a Diwali stamp.
Prime Minister Modi on a second visit in less than a year to the US promised to community leader Ranju Batra saying, “I will write President Obama supporting the Diwali Stamp” and took the note as a reminder, according to a statement from Batra,
Ranju Batra along with her husband attorney Ravi Batra met with the visiting Indian Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of UN General Assembly and updated Modi on her multi-years’ Diwali Stamp efforts along with Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
According to a statement from Batra’s, “PM Modi recalled their discussion a year ago when PM Modi came to New York as PM. Ranju then asked PM Modi to write a letter to President Obama in support of the Diwali Stamp being issued by US Postal Service.’
Ranju Batra is a strong advocate of a Diwali stamp and chair of Diwali Stamp Project, as she works hard to rally grassroots support to press the Citizens Stamp Advisory Commission of the US Postal Service to issue a postage stamp to honor Diwali, the Festival of Lights observed by Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, and Buddhists around the world.
Earlier this year, South Asian community leaders, including ASG UN-Women Lakshmi Puri and Ranju Batra, President of the Association of Indians in America-NY, came together to support the initial efforts by Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney (D-NY12) and Grace Meng (D-NY6), and the only Indian American Congressman, Ami Bera, to mark India’s Republic Day (January 26) by co-sponsoring a resolution to create a Diwali postage stamp.
Supporting the move, Congresswoman Maloney had said, “Diwali is an important spiritual and cultural festival along with other major religious holidays for which stamps are issued, such as Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Eid, and it merits similar recognition.”
“As one of the world’s oldest religious holidays, it serves not only as a time for celebration, but also as an occasion for communities and families to convene in spiritual enlightenment. The practice of Diwali has survived political, economic and social changes throughout history, while always carrying the universal symbolism of the victory of light, goodness, knowledge and truth,” Maloney had said.
Noting the financial benefit for the economically challenged US Postal Service, Ravi Batra, attorney and chair of the National Advisory Council on South Asian Affairs had added, “The target audience of the Diwali stamp isn’t just 3 million Indian Americans, but over 1 billion in India alone. The sale of a Diwali Stamp would be a much needed source of revenue for the US Postal Service in tough economic times.”
Welcoming the widespread support, Indian American community leader Ranju Batra had concluded, “We need everyone who supports religious freedom and mutual respect amongst neighbors to sign on. We now finally have a strong core group to make it happen.”