Professor Anthony Maher attends Diwali Celebrations in Canberra

02 Dec 2022 - by

Executive Director Professor Anthony Maher participated in Diwali celebrations in Canberra this Diwali season.

He was delighted to attend the Diwali Festival hosted by the Hindu Council of Australia, in association with the Hon Andrew Giles MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, and Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, the Minister for Women, Finance and the Public Service in the Great Hall of the Federal Parliament House. The Hindu Council of Australia has been celebrating Diwali at the Parliament House, Canberra since 2004 but this year’s festival is the first held following a two year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The festival was attended by many distinguished guests, with addresses from President of the Hindu Council of Australia Prakesh Mehta, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton and Indian High Commissioner to Australia Manpreet Vohra.

In the Picture: Kantilal Jinna ACT Royal Commonwealth Society,  Dr Sephalie of Baha'i ACT, Andrew Giles MP, Harjinder and Sunita Dhindsa of ACT Sikh community and members of the Royal Commonwealth Society of the ACT

Professor Maher also attended the ACT Govt Diwali Reception at the ACT Legislative Assembly on 21 October. This event was attended by diplomats from India, Mauritius, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as well as community leaders from Canberra.

In the picture: Dr Dean Sahu Khan, President of the Canberra Interfaith Forum, Mr Andrew Barr Chief Minister of the ACT and Professor Anthony Maher.

In the picture Peter Cain, Opposition spokesman for ACT Legislative Assembly, Niranjan Agarwal of Vishnu Shiva Temple at Mawson and also with Gandhi Association, Amardeep Singh candidate for Liberal Party and associated with the ACT Sikh community, vibrant community worker in the Indian Community. Member of the Royal Commonwealth Society of the ACT.

Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and others around the world. It symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance." At the ACC&C we share this concept in our motto “Wisdom for the common good.”