{"id":379418,"date":"2026-10-22T07:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T07:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379418\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T07:16:22","slug":"unity-through-light-queens-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379418\/","title":{"rendered":"Unity Through Light – Queens Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, October 10, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the Arts4all Foundation, elected officials, community organizations, and New Yorkers\u00a0gathered together\u00a0for the Annual Diwali and Navaratri Festival and Parade at the historic World\u2019s Fair Unisphere, which is the largest cultural community celebration in Queens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 1 billion people around the world, 7 million Americans, and over 700,000 New Yorkers across Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh faiths observe the holidays of Diwali and Navaratri, commemorating the triumph of divinity, light, knowledge, and truth, removing darkness, ignorance, inequality, and despair. The holidays occur on the new moon day in the autumn season, symbolizing divinity and light ushering in new beginnings, prosperity, hope, and unity, which is reflected by celebrators lighting diya and\u00a0participating\u00a0in prayers, service, and festive community gatherings. Annually the Arts4All Foundation hosts a free festival and parade that pays tribute to the World\u2019s Fair and celebrates the holidays of Diwali and Navaratri at the Unisphere to highlight New York\u2019s diverse arts and culture and support the advancement of human rights, global peace, and harmony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta, the founder of the Arts4All Foundation and organizer of the celebration, said,\u00a0\u201cThe gift of Diwali and Navaratri is the power to come together and illuminate our communities by lighting the Diya lamp of knowledge, truth, and hope to give us the resilience and strength to overcome our challenges, differences, and inequities. We host an annual free and inclusive Diwali and Navaratri festival to ignite the spirit of unity through light, community-connectedness, and peace. It is our hope that our Navaratri and Diwali celebrations will continue to inspire communities to unite in honoring their rich cultural traditions and ideals to make a positive impact in uplifting people and our world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The theme of the festival this year was\u00a0\u201cUnity through Light,\u201d\u00a0honoring the universal ideals of the Navaratri and Diwali holidays and the contributions of community leaders and organizations for their exceptional contributions to society. This year\u2019s festival was the largest yet, bringing together more than 2,000 New Yorkers. The Arts4All Foundation served over 2000 traditional festival meals with a variety of dishes from the different regions of India. The food was provided by Punjabi Dhaba, Santoor Indian Restaurant, Taste of Italy Pizzeria, Hindu Center, The Sikh Cultural Society Inc., Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh Center, Guru Nanak Darbar of Long Island, Harry Sweets and Snack, and Lala Sharma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The elected officials who attended the festival and parade were New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, New York State Senate-elect and Assemblywoman Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, Councilman Shekar Krishnan, Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, Assemblyman Steven Raga, District Leader-at-large Hersh Parikh, and County Civil Court Judge candidate Edmond Wong. Aniket Mondal, Chief of Staff for the Consulate General of India, New York, and\u00a0YiLing\u00a0Li, President of the UCT International Culture Development Center, an NGO with the United Nations, also joined in the celebration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assemblywoman and Senator-elect Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said,\u00a0\u201cThe South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities\u2019\u00a0rich tapestry of cultures and traditions are what makes Queens so vibrant, and the Diwali and Navaratri celebrations have become an integral part of our shared communal life. I am delighted to be joined with my colleagues in the legislature, Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta, the Arts4All Foundation, and our Queens community in celebrating the festival of lights and honoring our shared values of hope, light, and compassion that unite us all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assemblyman Steven Raga, who presented a proclamation for Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta\u00a0for her outstanding community service, said,\u00a0\u201cWhat is beautifully unique about Diwali and Navaratri are that they are holidays that not only hold cultural and religious significance but also shared universal values which resonate with all of us and strengthen our community as a whole. Here in Queens, the World\u2019s Borough, we are honored to have leaders like Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta, who embodies the theme of light prevailing over darkness through her advocacy and service. Happy Diwali and Navaratri!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assemblyman Edward Braunstein said,\u00a0\u201cI am honored to join Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta\u00a0at the Arts4All Foundation\u2019s Annual World\u2019s Fair Diwali and Navaratri Festival and Parade to celebrate the victory of light, knowledge, and good over darkness, ignorance, and evil\u2014inspirational themes which we all hold dear and aspire to follow. Every year this beautiful public festival brings together our families, friends, and neighbors to celebrate the rich cultural traditions of our South Asian and Indo-Caribbean community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Councilmember Shekar Krishnan said,\u00a0\u201cWishing everyone a Happy Diwali and Navaratri! I thank Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta\u00a0and the Arts4All Foundation for organizing free and inclusive celebrations like Diwali and Navaratri for the public to enjoy. Diwali and Navaratri remind us that we are a city strengthened by the contributions of\u00a0all of\u00a0our people, and I am proud to see that New Yorkers from various backgrounds are\u00a0gathered together\u00a0to celebrate Diwali and Navaratri as one community, fostering unity, benevolence, and togetherness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The parade began at sunset and included a walking procession with a Jagannath Rath Yatra.\u00a0Participants danced Garba around the Unisphere with rainbow-colored dandiya sticks and diya lights in their hands.\u00a0he\u00a0festival concluded with a sunset Diya aarti ceremony in front of Shri Ganesha, Shri Panchmukhi Hanuman, Shri Durga, and Shri Jagannath, illuminating the entire park with light.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Assemblyman Steven Raga presenting Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta\u00a0a proclamation in front of the pictures of the late District Leader Uma\u00a0SenGupta\u00a0and Suprabhat\u00a0SenGupta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Audience at World\u2019s Fair Diwali Navaratri Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Madhu Sharma, Dr. Jagmohan Kalra, Assemblywoman Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, Dr. Sumita\u00a0SenGupta, Asha Dua, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein, and Civil Judge Candidate Edmond Wong on stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Shri Ganesha Aarti at\u00a0World\u2019s\u00a0Fair Diwali Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, October 10, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the Arts4all Foundation, elected officials, community organizations,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-379418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}