US President Joe Biden on Monday celebrated Diwali at the White House at an event attended by over 600 prominent Indian Americans, news agency PTI reported.
“As President, I am honored to host the largest Diwali reception ever at the White House. It means a lot to me. As a senator, vice president, and president. South Asian Americans are on my staff. He was a key member,” the president said while addressing Indian American lawmakers, officials and business executives from across the country.
Joe Biden added, “From Kamala to Dr. Murthy to many of you here today, I am proud that we kept our promise to create an administration that looks like America.”
Mr. Biden’s speech was preceded by an introduction by Shrsti Amla, an Indian-American youth activist, and a speech by Lt. Gen. Vivek H. Murthy, the US Surgeon General. Retired Navy officer and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams sent a recorded video message from the International Space Station.
Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Jill Biden were absent from the event due to campaign commitments.
Recalling the first Diwali celebration held at the White House in 2016, Biden said the same “dark clouds formed by hatred and hostility toward immigrants, including South Asian Americans,” will return in 2024. He said he appeared.
“The Catholic president and vice president of Ireland at the time opened our home to holiday celebrations by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and others. “It reminds us of our power to be light,” he said.
Biden lit a formal diya in the Blue Room of the White House and used the occasion to express his gratitude for the role of the South Asian American community in America’s democracy.
“On this day in America, we reflect on that journey of light. A generation before the diyas, in the early days of our nation, it was in the shadow of suspicion, but now we celebrate Diwali proudly here in the White House. It has become celebrated,” he said.
