Last week, South Asians and Hindus across Pennsylvania celebrated their first Diwali since Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a law making the festival of lights an official state holiday in Pennsylvania.
90.5 WESA’s Morning Edition host Priyanka Tewari sat down with Rep. Arvind Venkat of Allegheny County’s District 30, who co-sponsored the legislation.
Venkat, a Democrat, was re-elected to his seat in the Pennsylvania state house on Tuesday.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Priyanka Tewari: You're actually a physician by training. What made you want to run for public office in the first place?
Arvind Venkat: I've been a practicing emergency physician for 17 years. I've seen the height of the Fentanyl crisis. I've seen Covid. I've seen the lack of insurance among my patients. And really the opportunity to serve my neighbors and to hopefully advance the interests of my community by bringing that perspective as an emergency physician was what caused me to run for office two years ago.
Was there any kind of hesitation from your family side? I mean, you were an emergency room doctor. You're married to a physician. Did they ever question why you [would] want to go into politics?
Venkat: Yeah, that's a great question. I'm an immigrant. I was born in India and immigrated here when I was three months old. My parents are true immigrants. They've been in the country for 50 years, but for much of their life, they were in India. And when I said that I was going to run for political office, they certainly expressed their skepticism.
But I think, like many immigrants, we believe in America. We believe in the promise of America. And I think we recognize that our representative government is dependent on people stepping forward to say, ‘This is what I stand for. This is what I believe my community needs.’ And so I think they eventually overcame their skepticism and now are huge supporters.
I grew up in India, but you grew up as a Hindu in the U.S. I learned, to my surprise, that for the temple-building generation of Hindus who came here, especially after the repeal of the Asian Exclusion Act in 1965, being Hindu or celebrating your religious and cultural traditions was perhaps not that welcome in the U.S. What was your experience growing up here in the 1970s?
Venkat: I immigrated in 1974 when I was three months old. I'm 50 years old. I grew up in a very tight-knit South Indian community in the suburbs of Detroit. And I remember, growing up, interacting with close family friends who are like brothers and sisters to me to this day, largely because our parents wanted to hold on to that immigrant heritage and wanted to make sure that there was a comfort associated with that community. They wanted their children to have pride in their religion and culture and heritage.
It was a very courageous and proactive effort by our parents' generation that has led us to today, where we celebrate the religious and cultural diversity we have, including from Asian communities and South Asian communities like my own.
But I think that's the story of Pennsylvania. It's the story of the United States. When I talk to my neighbors, they often relay [stories about] their grandparents, [who were immigrants from] Poland or from Italy or from Russia. They faced similar questions of how they could hold on to their roots. I think that diversity is our strength and we should be celebrating that. I think that's the American story.
Let's talk about this new law that has made Diwali an official state holiday in Pennsylvania. What does it entail, and why was it important to have Diwali as an official state holiday?
Venkat: This legislation came about really on a bipartisan basis. I have to give credit to Sen. Greg Rothman, a Republican from Cumberland County here in the central part of the state, and Sen. Nikil Saval, who's a fellow Hindu-American who represents the city of Philadelphia. They approached me as a new legislator in the House to say, ‘We have robust Hindu-American communities. We want to recognize the religious diversity that goes back to our founding as a state.’
And so we drafted this legislation that would have the state recognize Diwali as a holiday. It does not require that schools or businesses close their offices, but it does put an imprint that’s similar to Christmas or other religious holidays recognized in Pennsylvania.
Diwali is not just celebrated by Hindus. It's celebrated by Sikhs and Jains and Buddhists, as well. There are hundreds of thousands of adherents of these religions in Pennsylvania. It shows that their cultural and religious background is one to be celebrated in our state. It’s a step in recognizing that this community is part of the fabric of our commonwealth.
Rep. Venkat’s district office will hold a Diwali celebration Sunday, Nov. 10, from 5-7 p.m. at the Baierl Family YMCA. For details and to RSVP, visit Venkat’s Pennsylvania House member page.
