Until now, Pongal has been festival only for Tamils in Virginia. But now on, the festival of harvest has been officially recognised by the American State’s general assembly as a festival like Deepavali. In Virginia the Tamil population is about 40,000 people.

A resolution, which was introduced by delegate David Bulova (D-Fairfax) was approved by the general assembly 14th February, 2017. With the passage of new resolution, the Commonwealth of Virginia has designated 14th January in 2018 and in each succeeding years as the Pongal Day in Virginia, said A. Sriskandarajah, who is a legal advisor to the Valluvan Tamil Academy (VTA) and also a part of the team which worked to make this possible.

Though the festival will not be a holiday, but the school children can stay on at home and celebrate the festival as U.S. permits the freedom of religions. This step will also open the door for other Indian communities to have their cultures, traditions and also faiths recognised by United States, he added.

Baskar Kumaresan, the president of VTA, said that they had approached delegate David Bulova, who was willing to support the Bill in General Assembly, after the three months of related processes, Virginia's governor gave his assent to bill.

“This will provide Tamils of Virginia an opportunity to celebrate and share our rich heritage, culture, language and history. Mr. Bulova explained in the General Assembly that Pongal is similar to Thanksgiving Day. Committee members in both the House and Senate were deeply moved and inspired by our Tamil Heritage and the resolution was approved unanimously. The Tamil community is deeply indebted to him,” said Mr. Sriskandarajah. The VTA has 1,250 members and also teaches Tamil to students.

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Mrudula Duddempudi.