Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A bill meant to recognize Utah's growing Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities and one of their most momentous holidays — Diwali — passed the state House Wednesday.
Lawmakers voted 71-1 to pass SB46, which would make Diwali a state commemorative day. However, lawmakers also voted to eliminate a portion of the bill that would have allowed fireworks during the celebration.
The five-day festival of Diwali, also known as Festival of Lights, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. It is based on the Hindu lunisolar month of Kartik and typically falls during the last week of October or the first week of November.
"While the bang has been taken out of this bill, it is still a very important bill to recognize these cultures that have come to our great state of Utah," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, said during the House debate. "It's been remarkable to see the appreciation from members of these different communities, who find it very meaningful that this proposal would would even be considered."
Removal of the bill's fireworks provision centered on concerns that the original bill would have allowed fireworks for five days. Utah code currently only allows fireworks to be discharged on the Fourth of July, Pioneer Day, New Year's Eve and Chinese New Year.
"If you're in animal agriculture like I am, the thought of having five days worth of fireworks where you have to make sure cows don't jump over fences and your dogs are in the house should terrify you," said Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise. "Five days is more than we give for any holiday. It's more than we give for the Fourth of July. It's more than we give for Pioneer day. It's more than we give for New Years. So without the substitute, I think this bill causes real, real problems. With this substitute, it allows a community to express itself, but not put the rest of us in a in a bad way."
However, the fact that the bill allowed for five days of fireworks seemed unusual to the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple of Utah.
"When I saw that, I was like 'Why in the world are they asking for five days? We don't even do that in India where it is celebrated much higher," said Balaji Sudabattula, the temple's president. "I think it would have been nice if it was only proposed as one day, the day of Diwali. Maybe that would have passed."
Sudabattula said the temple currently gets special permission from South Jordan to use fireworks for one day during Diwali. He said those fireworks emit only light, not sound.
"You light them up and take away the darkness with the fireworks," he said. "For us, Diwali is a celebration of good over evil and then light over darkness. It comes during the time of the year when the nights are longer and days are shorter."
The bill's sponsor — Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan — said the bill arose after his constituents asked why fireworks were allowed for other cultural celebrations but not theirs.
"We allow fireworks already for Utahns to celebrate their heritage from one of the pioneers across the plains into the valley on the 24th of July; we allow fireworks celebrations to celebrate the birth of our country on July 4; we allow fireworks to celebrate the Lunar New Year for a large and growing Asian population, for whom that's an important part of their culture," Fillmore said. "And I think it's just fine to allow a small but growing and important community to celebrate their culture in the same way."
Sudabattula, the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple president, said even without the fireworks provision, the bill is still a win for Utah's Indian community — which he estimated to be made up of about 40,000 people.
"As a community, we're very excited about this bill," he said. "We are very happy to know that one of the biggest festivals for us is being recognized. We are a growing ethnic community. We are really little compared to others, but it's good to see the bill come through. It would have been nice if we had everything passed through, but that's okay."
