Indo-Canadian Sikh poet Rupi Kaur has declined an invitation for a Diwali event on Wednesday from US President Joe Biden\u2019s administration over its response to the situation in Gaza. \u201cI decline any invitation from an institution that supports the collective punishment of a trapped civilian population- 50 per cent of whom are children,\u201d Kaur, 31, wrote in a statement posted on X on Monday. \u201cI\u2019m surprised this administration finds it acceptable to celebrate Diwali when their support of the current atrocities against Palestinians represent the exact opposite of what this holiday means to many of us,\u201d the author of \u201cMilk and Honey,\u201d said. Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health said on Monday that the Palestinian death toll has crossed 10,000, including 4,104 children, with no signs of a ceasefire in the besieged enclave.<\/p>\n
In addition, 16 of Gaza\u2019s 35 hospitals, running low on fuel supplies, have been forced to suspend operations, and according to the UN, more than 1.5 million people \u2014 more than half of Gaza\u2019s population \u2014 have been displaced since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7. Kaur implored other South Asians in the US to do the same and hold the Biden administration accountable in the wake of the spiralling civilian death toll. \u201cI implore my South Asian community to hold this administration accountable. As a Sikh woman, I will not allow my likeness to be used in whitewashing this administration\u2019s actions.\u201d Kaur, who immigrated to Canada from Punjab at the age of four with her parents, said: \u201cWe must not be tokenized by their photo-ops. When a government\u2019s actions dehumanise people anywhere in the world, it is our moral imperative to call for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Diwali event is being hosted by America\u2019s Indian-origin Vice President Kamala Harris. Among Sikhs, Diwali is celebrated as Bandi Chhor Divas (Day of Liberation), commemorating their sixth guru, Guru Hargobind Sahib, who helped free 52 fellow political prisoners from unjust imprisonment by a Mughal emperor. \u201cI have always used this day to reflect on what it means to fight for freedom against oppression. Today, the American government is not only funding the bombardment of Gaza, they continue to justify this genocide against Palestinians regardless of how many refugee camps, health facilities, and places of worship are blown to bits,\u201d Kaur wrote.<\/p>\n
Kaur, whose work encompasses love, loss, trauma, healing, femininity, and migration, also urged her followers to sign petitions, join boycotts and attend protests in support of a ceasefire. Her collections have sold over 11 million copies and have been translated into over 43 languages, with \u201cMilk and Honey\u201d surpassing Homer\u2019s \u201cOdyssey\u201d as the best-selling poetry of all time. She was also regarded as \u201cwriter of the decade\u201d by the New Republic and recognised on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2022, Kaur released her fourth book, \u201cHealing Through Word\u201d. Earlier this year, her X account (formerly Twitter) was withheld in India over the Khalistan issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indo-Canadian Sikh poet Rupi Kaur has declined an invitation for a Diwali event on Wednesday from US President Joe Biden\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":10148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2911,895,2913,1380,1418,101,479,906,536,2912,2910,95],"class_list":["post-10147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bombing-of-civilians","tag-canada","tag-diwali","tag-gaza","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-joe-biden","tag-kamala-harris","tag-khalistan","tag-palestine","tag-poetry","tag-rupi-kaur","tag-usa"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}